Stormy Skies
by partially-insane22
Summary: Law meets up with a woman who claims to be a dragon, a being that is more myth then anything else.what happens when they struck up a deal to sail together not as captain and subordinate but as equals. Eventual Lawxoc.
1. Chapter 1

The broad muscular form a man trudged up the mud strewn hill side intent on reaching the figure that stood at the top. A fierce wind raged around him and pelted him with the needle like rain that fell from the sky. When he reached the top of the hill the man stood next to the slimmer figure of the woman who stood there. He glanced at her, sky blue hair whipped around her face free of its usual confines; she was starring fiercely at the sight before them. He turned to look at the valley below them; the once magnificent city that they had called home was burning to the ground. Its peoples fled to the four winds. Even the fierce rains of the storm could do nothing to stop the fires consumption of the once proud city.

"What do you plan to do Iso," the man asked.

"I plan to go after them Brun, they think they can push me around because of what I am but I will not stand for it. I will kill them but not before I make them suffer for this insult," the woman named Iso growled out.

"I will rouse the legion then," Brun answered.

"No, I will pursue them on my own."

"But that's suicide, you should at least take someone with you Iso," Brun insisted.

Iso smiled softly, "your worry is appreciated but I need all of you here to help the city and to rebuild. If I need you I will call but for now I will pursue these criminals on my own."

"I don't like it."

"Neither do I but that is my decision and I expect you to respect it," Iso turned away from the sight she had been watching so intently, "Have no doubt that I will make these bastards pay for burning my city."

Iso flexed the claws on her hands and the wings on her back, with a great leap she launched herself from the top of the hill and seamlessly changed into her true form that of a powerful blue storm dragon. The people who attacked her territory would pay for they had made a fierce and determined enemy.

XXX

Trafalgar Law growled at the man groveling before him.

"I-I'm sorry sir, I will fix it right away," the man begged. Law just waved him away and leaned back into his cushioned seat in the VIP section of the bar his crew currently had under their control. The groveling man picked up the tray of broken glasses and hurried back to the bar.

The pirate captain quickly forgot about the bumbling barman and turned back to his crewman who had come back from restocking the sub.

"Everything is set captain. We can leave as soon as the pose sets," Penguin his first mate reported.

"Excellent, Bepo when will the pose reset," he asked his polar bear navigator.

"It's going to take a few more days captain," Bepo told him.

"Hmm, seems we will have to find a way to entertain ourselves," Law mused.

XXX

Iso walked down the street being conscious to keep her pace at a casual stroll. Though she wasn't one to hide she didn't want to draw any untold attention to herself. Not that being discrete was any help to her current predicament. Ever since she set foot on this particular island she had been being followed, but that wasn't a bad thing it lead into her plan for this island.

This particular island was home to several black market dealers. One of which was a slave dealer who had recently started dealing in a product that Iso did not like and she fully intended to deal with it in the most drastic of measures.

Seeing her destination in front of her Iso ducked into the doorway of a rather run down but popular bar. Iso wasn't here to drink though; this particular bar had a rather robust black market dealer working out of the basement. On reflex Iso scanned the inside of the bar for danger. The crowd inside the bar was what you would expect from a bar that was home to the local black market. Pirates, thieves, and murders were just some of the unsavory characters that were present in the common room.

Iso made her way to the bar and caught the attention of the barman. She placed a black card down on the counter. The man stared at her.

"I have an appointment," Iso kept her tone neutral. The barman nodded and reached under the counter and pulled on a rope.

"Take a seat," he gestured toward an empty chair as he took the card and pocketed it. Iso watched him suspiciously but did as she was told to anyway. Out of the corner of her eye Iso watched two men with green hair walk through the door and take a seat. These were the two men that were following her but she made no move to acknowledge them. She was playing a dangerous game had been ever since she had left the safety of her homeland.

Someone came to stand next to her and Iso turned her head. A short slightly greasy man stood next to her.

"You requested a meeting," the man asked her.

"I did."

"Follow me then," the man turned away and Iso slipped off of the chair she had been sitting on and followed after him.

The captain of the heart pirates watched the interactions of Iso and the black marketer from his VIP booth with slight interest. He had noticed the strange looking woman when she entered the bar and the men who had soon followed after her and had taken a seat at a nearby table. As the woman followed the man into the basement Trafalgar Law leaned back in his seat. He was well aware of the black market business in the basement of the building it wasn't no great surprise that they would have clients come through the upstairs business the bar. The mundaneness of the situation would have made him lose interest if it wasn't for the men following the woman.

With them actually in the bar he could logically assume that this would end in a confrontation. If they had stayed outside then the followers wouldn't be taken as aggressive but with them entering the building after their target then he came to the conclusion that this would turn violent. So he settled back in his seat and waited for the eventual show.

XXX

Iso walked into what was a rather lavish office in the basement of the bar and if it wasn't for the smell of human blood and exotic items hanging in the air she might have thought this was the office of some lawful business. The greasy man that Iso followed moved to the side of the doorway and motioned for her to enter. The chair behind the desk was facing the other direction as she entered it swiveled toward her. It was all very dramatic and meant to impress and intimidate.

A man that Iso assumed was meant to be handsome was seated in the chair. He watched Iso with the smug yet wary look that his line of business usually instills in people.

"Please have a seat," he gestured toward a plush chair that set in front of his desk.

"That won't be necessary. I won't be here long," Iso smirked.

"And why is that," the man asked.

"I already know that you don't have what I want."

The man frowned. Iso shouldn't be able to know what was in his inventory only he knew the full extent of his collection of illegal goods. He narrowed his eyes in a suspicious glare but not at her but at the man who stood at his door. Someone must have loose lips and talked about something that they shouldn't have.

"Then why are you still here. My time is valuable and you are currently wasting it," his polite tone gone now that the prospect of making any money was gone.

"I'm merely bidding my time since what I want is currently sitting in the bar upstairs, but as payment for your time I will give you some information that is useful," Iso offered the knowing smirk on her face never leaving.

"Very well you have five minutes," the man said leaning back in his chair, "you had better make it worth it."

"Oh I'm sure I can," Iso turned and started wandering around the room seemingly dismissing the men around her as a viable threat. "As I'm sure you are aware the black market has many lucrative trades be it drugs, weapons, or something else."

"I already know all of this," the man grumbled.

"Of course you know this you'd be an idiot if you didn't," Iso snapped. The man decided to keep quiet the look that the woman gave him was dangerous and it was aimed at him. "Anyway I'm sure you know what the one most valuable trade is in the black market."

"The slave trade, what does all this have to do with me I don't trade in human flesh," the man answered when Iso's looked prompted him to answer.

"That's because certain individuals have made it quite difficult to enter that market, I'm about to make an opening in the next few months if your smart you can take advantage of the opportunity," Iso finished.

"Why are you telling me this," the man asked. All of this that the woman was telling him sounded too good to be true.

"As I said before what I want is currently sitting in the bar upstairs. Two men who work for a man who has recently offended me. This man they worked for dealt in the rarest of slaves. I plan to kill this man and all that work for him," Iso informed the black marketer.

"Who is this man?"

"Tao La-Shu," Iso stated.

The man choked on his own breath, "He deals in dragons."

"I know," Iso said, "I'll let you fill his position if you want. sell all the humans you want I don't care for them but if I catch you selling any of my kind I will gut from groin to sternum and let you watch as I make a noose out of your intestines so I can hang your corpse for all to see," Iso described all of this with an evil bloodthirsty smile on her face. The man could only nod in fear at Iso's gory threat. "Good now if you'll excuse me I have people to kill." Iso turned and left. None of the men in the room had the nerve to follow her.

Iso reemerged into the main room of the bar with a confident stride. She didn't head straight for the door but wandered into the crowd.

Trafalgar watched as she wandered closer. She appeared relaxed but he could tell that she was on guard. As the woman made her way past his group of tables she turned and winked at him. Iso knew that he had been watching her the whole time she was in the bar. Walking by him was just a way for her to determine whether or not he was working for Tao La-Shu. Her observations told her that was not the case Trafalgar looked like the kind of man that was far too arrogant to work for someone else.

With her tour of the room finished Iso made her way toward to door. As she passed the two men who had followed her into the bar she smirked at them and bolted out the door. The men jumped up from their seats knocking over their chairs in the process. They ran out the door after their target.

"Let's go Bepo. It appears something interesting is happening," Trafalgar Law stood and made his casually toward the door.

Iso lead her followers further into the slums of the large sea side port city they were in dodging around corners and jumping over crates. She ran just fast enough to stay within sight of her pursuers but not so fast as to lose them she wanted them to follow her. She kept running deeper into the slums where only drunks, homeless and street rats would live. As she ran Iso was searching for a good place to ambush her two followers.

She finally saw it, an alleyway that was little more than a gap created by two crumbled building leaning on each other for support. The blue haired woman skidded around the corner into the alley and grabbed a rotting support beam and swung herself up into the shadows. It wasn't long before Iso's two followers entered the alleyway where she had set up her little ambush.

"Ahy where did that little bitch go."

"De hell if I know dis place is a dead end."

Just as one of the men looked up to see her in the space above, Iso swung her body around and kicked both of them in the chest. One of the men fell to the ground while the other just staggered backwards. Iso's swing caused her to sail right over the men and land behind them in a crouch. The man that didn't fall in her attack drew his knife and charged at her. Iso didn't bother drawing her weapons the quarters were too tight to fight with them properly. So she simply stepped into the swing of the man knife and grabbed onto his wrist. Using his own force of momentum against him Iso slammed him bodily into the wall of one of the buildings. He crumbled to the ground, but Iso didn't get a break yet. The man she had knocked down earlier was back up and charging at her supposedly unguarded backside. Iso ducked at the last minute and the man tumbled over her and landed in a pile on top of his partner.

Iso drew one of her swords from its place on her hip, "now we are going to have a nice chat about your boss and you're going to tell me everything I want to know."

"An why de hell should we talk to you."

"I don't think you quiet realize the position you are in," Iso said sitting down on an abandoned crate and laying her naked blade on her knee, "I only need one of you to talk and whoever talks first gets to live, and who ever talks second gets to die by being chained to the dock and one of the outgoing merchant ship's rudders."

Both men blanched at the visual of being pulled apart by an unsuspecting ship.

"I'll tell you whatever you want to know," Iso frowned slightly both men had spoken at almost the same time.

"I spoke first,"

"No I did," now the men were scrambling to save their own lives.

"Shut up the both of you," Iso glared at the two men and they both clamed right up, "Now I'm going to ask my questions and then I will decided who spoke first, understand."

They nodded.

"Good. Now your boss he deals in slaves correct," Iso started with a question she already knew the answer to. She pointed at one of the men, "you answer."

"Yes miss."

"What kind of slaves?" she pointed at the other man.

"Exotic ones Ma'am."

"What do you mean by exotic?"

"Fishman, giants, but lately he's been dealing mostly in dragons," the other man answered catching onto how she wanted them to alternate answers.

"Is that why you're following me?"

"Yes miss. One of our men spotted your hair and wings when you arrived and we thought you an easy catch."

"Well you thought wrong now didn't you? One last question if I wanted to find your boss where would I look?"

"Are you crazy lady! Master Tao will rip you."

"That is not what I asked," Iso interrupted the man speaking with a deadly calm voice.

"He uses an old abandoned marine base on the far side of the island," the other man told her.

"See now that wasn't so hard. Now onto other matters. Who do you think spoke first?"

The two men seemed to burst open. Both of them begging for their own life and trying to sell out his partner at the same time. Iso silence them with a growl.

"You know what I think? Both of you spoke last," Iso rose from her seat and advanced on her target. No one paid any attention to the screams coming out of that little alley way. All of the slum residence merely looked away and wait for it to end so that they could go in and rob the corpses of any valuables that they may still possesses.

Iso stepped out of the alley way without a speck of dirt to mar her appearance. Her eyes shifted to the left where Trafalgar Law stood leaning against the wall with his polar bear sitting next to him hold on to a sword that was almost as tall as she was.

"Did you enjoy eavesdropping on private conversations," Iso asked turning to face the tall dark haired pirate. He was dressed casually in spotted jeans, a black and yellow hoodie, and a spotted white hat.

"In fact I did dragon-ya. I always enjoy a good mental torture," Law smirked as he stepped away from the wall, "Though that isn't the only interesting thing that I got to enjoy."

Iso cocked her head to the side and studied the man in front of her. He held an arrogant air around and a confidence that could imply the ability to serve her purpose on this island. Tactically if she wanted to kill Tao La-Shu and free the slaves she would have to ensure that Tao La-Shu couldn't escape and to make sure that he wouldn't just kill the slave in retaliation for her coming after him for she fully intended him to know the reasons for his death. She would need allies for her assault on the abandoned marine base.

"Trafalgar Law bounty 98 million recent entrant to the grand line. You've been quickly making a name for yourself in the pirating world," Iso recited the details that she knew about this man in a rather bored tone.

"I do my best," Law answered, "May I ask why it concerns you?"

"I could do the same, why did you follow me," I stepped closer, "but I won't instead I have a proposal for you."

"Oh and what might that be," he asked his curiosity piqued further by this woman's forwardness.

"I intend to kill the boss of the two men I just killed Tao La-Shu and free the slaves that he is holding but I can't do all on my own. I offer you this if you and your crew help me in my endeavor you can have claim over any valuables that may be his compound all I ask is that you help me free the slaves."

It was Law's turn to study the person in front of him. This woman's proposal was appealing and he had a feeling that he was going to take her up on it. He wanted more out of the bargain though as a pirate he was obligated to get as much as he could out any of his dealings and he felt that this woman had more to give.

"Let's say I accept your proposal, but we add in the condition that you answer any of my questions truthfully until this is over."

"I'll give you twenty questions, no more no less," Iso countered.

"It would seem that we have a deal miss…" the heart pirate captain left his sentence hanging in the hope that the woman would fill in the blank.

"Is that a question," Iso asked a cocky smirk appearing on her face.

"No but it is only polite for you to introduce yourself since it would seem that you already know my name," Law said.

"Fine it's not that important any way. My name is Isodellaco but I much prefer Iso."

"It is a pleasure to meet you Iso-ya. We will reach our destination faster if we use my ship," with that he turned and headed toward the harbor.


	2. Chapter 2

Iso stood with her arms crossed on the deck of Trafalgar Law's submarine. She did not want to be on this ship. She did not like it not one bit. This ship was not natural people were not meant to travel under the water. She wanted to leave this ship as soon as possible.

"What is wrong Iso-ya," Law asked from right behind her.

"She's really pretty," Shachi said.

"Yeah she is," Penguin agreed.

"But she's not a bear," Bepo complained.

"Shut up you stupid bear," the two infatuated men yelled.

"Sorry," Bepo was crushed.

"I do not like this ship," Iso glared at the two men.

"Tch, that is not something you should say to someone who is helping you," Law growled.

"Help me or not is up to you, I'm not going to change the way I act just to secure that help," Iso turned toward him.

Law chuckled, "I guess that is acceptable. Do you have any idea as to what to expect once we get to this marine base?"

"I know some but I don't know how much it will help in your assault," Iso said.

"Why don't you tell me and I will judge what is relevant," Law suggested.

Iso snorted, "Your interrogation skills suck. I don't know much beside rumor and what I got from the too goons that had been following me. The marine base were heading toward was small and was over run and abandoned a few decades ago that's why the slave traders were able to take over."

"I have a question for you Iso-ya," Law said.

"It'll count toward your total," Iso smirked.

"Fine. Why are you so determined to do this?"

Iso sighed, "You know what I am, that's unfortunate, but this makes this explanation easier. Tao La-Shu is capturing and selling dragons as slaves, and he himself is also a dragon."

"He trading in his own kind," Law said, "why is that so big a deal humans do it all the time."

"For humans it may be no big deal, but for a dragon it's despicable. My position in our society and my own honor demands that I put an end to this immediately and that I make an example of Tao La-Shu."

"And you decided to drag my crew and I into your fight as well," Law was didn't like the sound of this it could end badly for his crew.

"Tao is the only dragon on this island besides myself and any slaves he might have in his hold and I did promise to make it worth it for you did I not," Iso leaned against the railing and faced him, "most dragons have a compulsion to hoard this of intense value anything that Tao may have hoarded is yours."

"I suppose that will be acceptable," Law nodded.

"Good. Now for our strategy, I suggest a two prong attack. I will draw Tao's attention to myself whilst you and your crew attack from the sea," Iso said.

"Your plan is sound. My crew will do as you suggest but I will be accompanying you," Law said, "Bepo take the ship to the shore Iso-ya and I will be disembark now and the rest of you will continue on and attack from the sea as planned."

"When will we know when to attack captain," Penguin asked.

"At sunset," Law decided, and Iso nodded.

"Then we best be going. I have a faster way to disembark then landing," Iso moved forward.

"And wha-" Law didn't get to finish. Iso grabbed the front of Law's hoodie and threw him out over the sea, "Ffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccckkk!"

"Remember sunset," she told the gathered heart pirates before she leapt off the ship and with a powerful flap of her wings she caught Law before he could hit the water. Iso followed the shoreline of the island for about a mile before banking hard into the forest that covered much of the island. She effortlessly wove in-between the tall trees.

"Iso-ya," Law growled once he recovered from his nerve wrecking fall, "If you ever do that again I will gut you."

"Haha I'd like to see you try," Iso laughed. She shot up over a ridge and for a moment hovered over the trees before dropping back into their cover.

"Did you see that," Law questioned.

"Yeah," the marine base was in sight, "we still have time the sun isn't even close to setting yet." Iso landed and set Law on his feet.

"Let's find a vantage point to study the base," Law did wait for Iso to respond before he started to walk off. They got to their destination much quicker than he had anticipated. Iso's ability to fly was very useful though he wouldn't ever tell her that. She was already arrogant enough. All that he had seen so far was making him start to debate whether or not he will get her to join his crew, but if he did ask her to join he would have to be smart about it. Iso didn't strike him like someone who would submit to the command of someone else.

XXX

Law had studied the abandoned marine base for all of seven minutes before he turned his attention to more interesting targets. Iso stood leaning against the trunk of a tree. Her gaze never leaving the base in front of her. Law studied her wings from where he sat on a rock behind the dragon. When she had been flying the wings which were the same blue as her hair and eyes had stretch nearly twelve feet across but now they were little more than a foot long each.

Was it a devil fruit that allowed the change or was there something else an innate ability of the dragon that allow for the rapid change in size. Law hoped that it was the latter. Dragons were such a mystery to the world outside of the isolated species. He thought that he might be one of the first humans to get a chance to study the strange creatures up close. Law stood and went over to where Iso was studying their target.

She tensed as she felt the human male approach her. Iso could feel his eyes boring into her back. She turned slightly to find Law only a few inches from her back.

"What are you doing," she glared at him trying to tell him to back off with a look.

"Studying you, Iso-ya. I have a limited number of questions that I am able to ask so I must answer the rest through observation." Law explained not backing off in the least.

"Well knock it off its creepy," Iso snapped.

"I'd rather not seeing as that would be counterproductive to my goals," he reached out a hand to see if the wings on Iso's back were as smooth and thin as they looked, but his hand was snatched in a hard grip.

"Don't touch my wings," she gave him her most withering glare. Law gave her a look that told her to elaborate or face the consequences. "Only mates may touch another's wings."

"My apologies, I was unawares." Law backed down for now but his desire to examine the strange appendages hadn't lessened.

"That's the only reason you still have your hand," Iso told him.

Law looked at the sky to distract himself from the enigma in front of him, "We should go if we are to make it through the forest before sunset."

"What you don't want to fly," Iso teased her earlier tense mood all but forgotten.

"It would draw to much attention," Law told her before leading the way towards their destination.

XXX

Iso and Law hiked through the underbrush of the forest heading toward the old marine base where their current mutual target resided. The forest was old so the going wasn't bad and they walked mostly downhill still it would take them the remaining time until sunset to reach their destination.

Iso huffed and rubbed at her nose. "This forest smells disgusting."

Law discreetly sniffed at the air around him, "I don't smell anything out of the ordinary."

"Of course you don't your human," she gave him a look that said she thought he was being dense. "The whole forest is scent marked. Tao La-Shu has it claim as his territory."

Law wonder if that was similar to how wolves and other canines marked their territories but he wasn't about to waste a question asking. He would have to make note of it when he returned to his sub just in case he ever got a chance to ask Iso questions freely. He was soon distracted by his companion reaching in the cloth that wrapped around her chest that was her poor excuse for a shirt. She pulled out a small pouch.

"Her take this," Iso handed him the pouch.

"What is it," he asked realizing his mistake too late to stop the words.

"That's number two. And to answer Tao la-Shu is a green dragon, they specialize in poisons and are quite venomous themselves. The medicine in that pouch was made by one of the most powerful greens I know so it should counter act anything that will be thrown at us."

Iso's explanation caused Law's curiosity to rise and he deemed it acceptable to ask his next questions. "What other types of dragons are out there?"

"Question number three. Traditionally there are seven different classifications of dragons. We're divided by what our dominate color is and in each classification there are many different sub groups."

"That doesn't explain my question," he wanted to know the different types of dragons.

"I'm getting there," Iso gave him a look, "the seven colors of dragons are red, blue, green, black, white, gold and silver. They can also be described as fire dragons, storm dragons, swamp dragons, shadow dragons, ice dragons, sun dragons and moon dragons."

"I'm assuming that you're a storm dragon," he stated.

"Yes, that's why I'm blue," she smirked at him. She turned her attention back to the forest in front of her, "Looks like were here," her voice was lower than it had been before.

Law turned and looked where she had indicated and he saw that the forest was thinning it would be long before it vanish all together and became the clearing the surrounded the old fort. "My crew should be attacking soon that will be our que to make our move."

They moved so they could see the still imposing walls of the old fort but still within the safety of the forest. They were silent now the time for talking was over. All they could do was wait.

BOOOM!

A sudden explosion rocked the air around them.

"That's our que," Law said moving forward he would recognize the canons of his beloved submarine anywhere.

"Right," Iso dashed forward pass Law and closed in on the wall of the marine base. She leapt into the air and easily cleared the top of the wall. Drawing her blades Iso swung at the watchers atop the wall and lightning erupted from her swords and clearing the wall of any and all enemies. Iso landed on the wall and Law with the use of his devil fruit appeared next to her.

Law looked at Iso and again wondered why she needed his help with the power she just displayed. But now wasn't the time to be worrying about that. His submarine had already landed in the small harbor protected by the old base and his men were engaging the enemy.

"We should attack Iso-ya" Law suggested his men were fighting at a disadvantage trying to fight of attacks while also trying to gain a land hold to fight on.

"You go I see my target," a green haired Asian looking man had just emerged from the main building of the fort. Iso knew it had to be him while some of the smugglers had dyed their hair green to match their boss his held a natural sheen to it. He also was not acting like a man who was under attack. Typical green dragon behavior.

Iso ignored the response that Law made not even hearing it she jumped from the wall and roared her challenge. To the other dragon. He lifted his spear and caught Iso's blades on the wooden shaft. Iso jumped back from Tao as he swept the spear at her and landed outside of his range.

"By whom am I being challenge," the green dragon demanded easily recognizing one of his own kind. The power radiating off of this dragon made him cautious he had not heard of any dragons of her caliber traveling outside of their homeland.

"I am known as Isodellaco," was all she said.

The green's eyes widened he recognized that name he would have to be very careful if he was to escape from this challenge alive. "And to what do I owe the honor of the former Lord General visiting me in my home?"

"You should know very well why I'm here their isn't a dragon in the grand line that doesn't know of your dishonorable dealings in the flesh of your own kind. It is merely unfortunate for you that I am the first in a position able to do something about it."

"That is as I thought, and you will be unable to stop me you may be strong Isodellaco but I have my ways," several tiny green beads dropped into his hand and he threw them at Iso.

She ducked the projectiles but they exploded over her head knocking her to the ground. Iso quickly rolled to the side just in time to miss Tao's spear impaling the ground where here head had been. "That was dirty.

"There's no honor in death," Tao sneered. He stabbed his spear at Iso to force her to keep her distance.

"True," she side stepped the spear and brought one her blades up to smash into his face. The green dragon leaned back to avoid the hit but didn't see the second blade coming in low and slashing at his belly.

"It would seem that I'm not up to par with a Lord General's skills," Tao clutched at his wound. It wasn't deep but it was long and would make the fight all that much more difficult.

"That's true but hardly anyone is," Iso was going to charge him but one of Law's crewmembers stumbled into her path while trying to avoid being injured by one of Tao's men. Iso snarled and grabbed the man attacking the heart pirate and threw him over the wall and out of sight.

"Are you all right," Iso asked the pirate he was holding onto his arm that was bleeding quite heavily.

"I'll be fine whats up with him," he nodded toward the green dragon. Tao was glowing green and when he saw Iso notice him he started to laugh.

"That kind heart of yours will only cause you trouble little blue dragon," Tao laughed. The light expanded and hid the green dragon from view.

"Shit. Get everyone out of the court yard now," Iso ordered the pirate but it was too late. The light faded to reveal that Tao had taken his true for that of a giant, winged, green lizard. From nose to tail he was roughly 25 feet long and had a crown of horns surrounding his thick head. The pirate the Iso had saved fell to his knees in fear as did most of the crew only the captain and the stronger members remain on their feet. It was always the same for humans the first time they saw a dragon in its true form. The dragon's aura was so immense that it brought out the primal fear that all lower beings possessed.

Tao arched his neck and sucked in a lung full of air. This was a gesture that Iso knew well he was going to use his breath attack. Iso had to act quick otherwise everyone in the court yard would be poisoned and there would not be enough medicine to go around.

Iso was quicker than the green dragon though. After dropping her swords, she released the tightly held control she had over her magic. Iso swung her hand down toward the ground and yelled "Descend." And brought a lightning bolt down on the dragon.

XXX

Law, Shachi, Penguin and Bepo were the only other people standing in the court yard. All of Law's men were cowering in fear and the green dragons men were either dead or down on their knees in worship of their leader. The men who had occupied the marine base had not acted like lowly criminals at all; they acted more like fanatics in defense of their idle. Law had settled his side of the bargain and had secured the safety of the prisoners in the brig and now he just had to wait for Iso to deal with the other dragon. He could now see why Iso had needed him it was taking all of his will power to stay standing; one person would not be able to deal with a dragon and his henchmen alone; even if that person was a dragon themselves.

Law didn't know what to make of the green dragon's odd movements but Iso sure seemed to understand them with the speed that she reacted. He couldn't hear what she said but he saw her movements and the lightning bolt that descended from the clear sky striking the green dragon between the wings. The dragon collapsed and all appeared to be over and Law was going to go over and investigate the corpse, but Iso ran forward in a blur of light and transformed into a might blue dragon even larger than the green one and tackled her enemy into the harbor dangerously close to Law's ship. Iso expertly pushed the smaller dragon further into the water and under the waves where he would be unable to use his poison breath attack.

"Captain, did you see that, that chick is really a dragon," Shachi said in disbelief.

"I think that was established when she said she was a dragon Shachi," he glared at his crewmate but he was truly angry at Iso she better not have damaged his ship, "See to the others and round up any of the smugglers that are still alive." He told his men as he walked over to the water's edge. He could still see the water rolling as the two monsters fought.

XXX

Iso had the advantage, she knew that. She was on top and had the green dragon pinned to the bottom of the harbor but that didn't mean she wasn't starting to panic on the inside. Between transforming and diving into the water she hadn't had time to fill her lungs with much needed air. She had to end this quick.

The green dragon was trying to escape and he was just slippery enough that he almost succeeded but by stretching and wiggling his body he left an opening for Iso to latch onto his neck and sink her fangs into the softer flesh hidden there and shook. Tao must have realized the position that he was in because he stopped trying to escape and instead dug his claws into Iso. Her scales protected her for the most part the green dragon only managed to pierce the softer scales on her belly and soon that stopped, as Iso broke Tao la-Shu's neck and ripped out most of his throat.

As soon as she was sure that her enemy was dead Iso released him and swam for the surface to take in much needed air.


	3. Chapter 3

Iso surfaced in the middle of the harbor. She took a deep breath and shook the water from her scales. She could already feel the bruises forming from where the green dragon had tried to dislodge her larger form and she felt like she might be bleeding slightly from her stomach where the scales were softer, but that didn't matter it would heal soon enough.

She could see Law glaring at her from the shoreline. Iso swam toward him wanting to get whatever fit he was about to throw out of the way so that she could move onto more important matters.

"Iso-ya what were you thinking when you fought so close to my ship," he snarled at her.

Iso looked at him so that is what this was about. She snaked her head around and nudged the submarine with her nose. It seemed fine to her.

"I didn't damage your ship so you have nothing to be angry about," when she spoke her voice rumbled with the size of her body but was still distinctly feminine. Law scowled that wasn't what he was angry at but he couldn't say that if he wanted her to join his crew she couldn't be so reckless now could he.

Before they could say anything more they were interrupted by his some of his crew escorting several people toward them. Law suspected they were the captive dragons just from their distinct coloring. There were four of them in total a white haired older male who was being supported by a black hair female and two children a red haired one and a blue haired one.

"Praise be too She of All Colors," the white haired male whispered as he came toward Iso, "Never in my wildest prayers did I imagine we would be rescued by one such as you Lord Iso."

"It was nothing elder. I was merely doing what is honorable," Iso said as she was surrounded by a blue light and reemerged in her human form. She went forward and helped him to sit on a nearby rock. The woman stood next to the old man and the two children hid behind her skirts.

"We are still truly thankful my lord. If it wasn't for you and your allies," she shook her head, "I shudder at the thought of what our fates might have been."

"I can only imagine," Iso said, "if you don't mind my asking, what are you doing here in the grand line?"

"That is a sore and long tale you ask Lord Iso, but if you must know we were fleeing the destruction of the Cloudy City," the old man said.

"The Cloudy City's been destroyed," Iso stated more then asked.

"Aye it very nearly consumed myself as well. That is why I'm in such a sorry state your lordship," the old man said.

"My uncle set me away before he went to join the fighting that is when I found the hatchlings here," the woman said gesturing and the boy and girl behind her, "We were captured soon after and brought here."

"This is not good I will have to look into it," Iso said more to herself then to anyone around her deep in thought about what she had learned. She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the dragons in front of her, "if you would like you may go to the Shining Cities you will be safe there and you can heal and rest before finding work."

"Oh thank you Lord Iso, we are honored by your offer," the other dragons nodded along with the old man's words.

"Very well then, I will start the preparations," Iso turned around and almost ran into Law. He had listened to the entire conversation.

"We need to talk," he told her.

"When I'm done sending them off we will talk," Iso said. She had a feeling she might know what he wished to discuss with her but it would have to wait.

XXX

Law was mildly impressed, Iso turned away from him with a knowing smirk. She was walking into the central building of the now subdued smugglers den and he rushed after her not wanting the dragon to be out of her sight for a second.

"What are you doing now," he asked her.

"I'm looking for something," Iso said she was moving upwards looking for the offices.

"Don't forget that everything here belongs to me, per our agreement," he reminded her.

"I think you can spare some parchment and sealing wax," she gave him that smirk again that said she knew everything there was to know.

"I suppose it's would not be too difficult," Law agreed as he followed her into what used to be the base commander's office but now formerly belonged to the green dragon. "Well if this isn't ostentatious," Law commented dryly.

Saying the office was lavishly decorated would have been an understatement. It looked like the dragon had taken anything that had caught his eye he had kept. Gold and jewels were placed on display and sat in chests throughout the entire room tapestries and exotic cloth hung from the ceiling and walls.

"I present the dragon's horde," Iso swept out her arms presenting the room the pirate with her. Law slowly turned trying to take in the treasure that was now his while Iso made her way to the solid oak desk that sat prominently in the center of the room.

"This is amazing. There has to be millions of belli worth of stuff in this room," Law went straight to a book case that took a good portion of one wall. He ran his fingers over the spines not recognizing the language on many of them. Law glanced over at Iso who was writing on a piece of paper she had found in the desk before turning back and pulling out a green leather bound book. He flipped it open and found pictures of plants with the strange language in it.

"What is this language," he turned to Iso who was finishing up her letter.

"Is that a question," Iso asked not looking up from her task.

"Yes," he held the book out for her to see.

"That is Draconian, my native language," she said.

"What is this book about," he asked.

She pulled the book out of his hands and snapped it shut and only took a quick look. "Green usually means that it's medicinal in nature." She went back to sealing her letter. Law looked back at the book case several of the books had green covers but others had different colors. He would have find out their subjects latter. Instead he turned to continue his exploration when a door towards the back of the room caught his attention. He moved toward it. The door opened to an empty room the only decoration was the same strange language from the book written on the walls. He was about to step into the room to get a better look at the odd room when he was suddenly pulled back by the hood on his shirt.

Iso ignored the glare Law sent her, "be careful its booby trapped."

"How can you tell," he asked.

She pointed to a line of script and the threshold of the door, "That right there. This must have been his casting room."

"Casting room," he looked at her to elaborate.

"For his spell work," Iso said.

"As in magic," Law scoffed, "magic does not exist."

"Trafalgar, you are essentially speaking to a ten ton lizard stuffed into a human size meat suit. If that isn't proof that magic exists I don't know what is," Iso squatted down by the trap spell to get a closer look.

"I still remain skeptical," Law said.

"You do that," Iso pulled a piece of chalk out of her shirt and carefully reached toward the spell and changed several of the symbols on the floor. She moved slowly into the room searching anymore traps but upon not finding any relaxed. "It's safe now."

"You could have just left the door locked," Law said.

"Hmm, I could but I can use this room to send the other dragons closer to where I wish them to go," Iso explained, "this way I don't have to draw the whole thing out and that could take hours."

XXX

It was several hours later but Law and Iso could still be found in the bases main office. Iso had long since sent the newly freed dragons on their way.

"You know I still find it odd that you can tell if something is valuable just by sniffing it," Law handed Iso another object from the many shelves in the office.

"Just another perk of being me," Iso placed the small statue in its appropriate box. Law's crew was busy raiding the rest of the base while he packed up the treasure that was in the room that they were in and Iso had been roped into helping him. He had been debating the best way to broach the topic he wanted to discuss.

"You could just say it you know," Iso said from where she leaned against the desk. Though Law was good at concealing what he was thinking there were still subtle hints in his scent that told Iso he was concerned about something other than the treasure.

Law glared at Iso. He wasn't really angry but her comment had sounded a little too much like an order. "Very well, I want you to join my crew." Being blunt seemed to work best with the dragon.

Iso leaned back on her hands, "Hm no I think not."

"I think you misunderstood Iso-ya. You don't have room to reject my request," Law said stopping what he was doing to put his whole focus on Iso.

"No its you who misunderstood. I'm not rejecting your offer to join you just your terms of the agreement," Iso gave him that smile again the one that said she knew everything in the world and there wasn't anything he could do to stop her.

"Then what do you propose," Law ground out he did not like felling like he was being played with.

"Exactly what you want, well sort of. I travel on your ship but not as part of the crew but as your equal. I will lend you my strength and knowledge and in exchange you get me closer to my goal."

"Which is," he asked.

"I'm going to kill a man, but he's tricky so I have to be just as tricky as well, traveling with you will get me a lot closer to him then if I'm flying on my own," Iso explained.

"And what happens when you kill the man you're after," Law asked. He wanted as much information as he could get before he agreed to this.

"I do whatever I want, but you needn't worry he is deep in the second half of the grand line and we are hardly in the beginning of the first half."

"let's get a few things straight first before this is all settled, I'm still captain of my ship whatever I say concerning my ship goes," he waited for Iso to nod still with that annoying smirk of hers, "and second don't think you get to freeload everyone on my ship has a job. We may be equals but you still need to earn your keep."

"Of course, so we have an agreement," Iso prompted.

"It seems we do," Law held his hand out for Iso to shake.

XXX

Law was glaring at Iso as she lounged on the couch in his office. She had refused to help load the sub of everything Law had taken into his possession just because Law himself wasn't helping. She had then reminded him that she was his equal and not his subordinate.

"So tell me Iso do you have any skills I can make use of," Law asked as he attempted to sort through all the papers on his desk.

"Hm, I'm really good at killing things," Iso said.

"Anything other than that," Law gave her a dry look.

Iso hung her mouth open and looked like she actually had to think about what Law had asked.

"Ah I can navigate naturally through the grand line," she offered up.

"Like without a log pose," he asked wanting elaboration. A skill such as that could be immensely valuable.

"Yeah most dragons can it's like a natural instinct or something along those lines," she explained.

"So you know which way the next island is," Law asked. According to Bepo their log pose had yet to lock onto the next island it would still be a day or two before it was set.

"Yup it's that way," Iso pointed to the left of Law's head, "about two days flight not sure how that translates into submarine speed, but we should angle to the south half a day before heading straight on. I can sense a storm in that direction that's going to cause some large currents."

Law leaned back impressed if he had followed the log pose then he would have sailed right through the storm but with Iso's help not only could he avoid the storm but he didn't have to wait for the log pose to set.

"Where's your log pose I think I can probably set it to the next island, that way I don't have to monitor the sub's progress?" Iso asked.

"Bepo has it. He should be in the navigation room preparing for our departure," Law stood ready to go find his bear.

"Right," Iso talked through her yawn.

Law glanced at her. He had noticed since they had boarded the sub that Iso had progressively acted more and more tired. "When was the last time you slept Iso-ya?"

"Before I left the last island I was on. Hm probably four days ago," she answered.

"That is not good," Law told her, "While you are on this ship you will take better care of yourself."

"That's fine with me. Just can't sleep while flying,"

"Once we are done with this task you may sleep in my office until your room is prepared," Law told her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Oh look a wild update appeared. I'm posting this chapter now seeing as it is most filler. I'll have chapter five up in a few days once I'm done with it.**

Iso followed behind one of her newest crew members. He was tall nearly seven feet and lanky. He was very pale with freckles scattered over all the visible skin. Which wasn't much considering he wore the same boiler suit that every other member of the crew wore. God she hoped she didn't have to wear one of those. They looked like they would rub on her sensitive wings. He had woken her up in Law's office and had asked her to follow him to her new room. Seems like Law wanted his space back.

"Well here we are," the guy chirped, "This is going to be your room."

"Thanks err um," Iso stuttered out. She forgot his name already.

"Ryan," he supplied, "I work in the engine room."

"Right, thanks," Iso stood there awkwardly.

"Well um," Ryan ran his hand through his bright orange hair before replacing his black bandana, "Dinners in an hour. I can show you around after that."

"Sure that'd be nice," Iso said.

"Right um, I'll let you get settled now," Ryan turned to leave with a small wave.

Iso turned and entered the room. The room looked like it was nothing more than a storage room that had been cleared out. A rickety bed and an empty box were shoved into a corner and that was it.

"Great nice and comfy," Iso sat on the bed. Good thing she didn't have a lot of stuff. She wouldn't of had any room for any of it any way.

Iso leaned her head back against metal walls. She hadn't slept more than two hours and was still tired but she didn't really see a point in lying back down when she would just be back up in an hour. She pulled a note book and pen out of her shirt and started to write down things that she would need to pick up at the next island instead. A knock on the door broke Iso out of her concentration. When she opened the door she was greeted by a young man Iso had look down at him he was almost a whole head shorter than she was. He was in his later teens maybe early twenties and had large green eyes and his hair was hidden by a dark green beanie and of course he wore the same boiler suit as everyone else.

"Hi I'm Elias captain's medical assistant."

"Hi…Iso," this kid was awfully cheerful.

"Come on lets go get something to eat," Elias dragged Iso out of her room. They went down a level and ran into Ryan.

"Hey guys. Iso I was just coming to get you," Ryan smiled at them.

"Sorry Ryan, but I got done early thought I would save you a trip," Elias explained.

"Oh," Ryan said as he fell into step besides them, "so what does captain have you doing Iso?"

"She's our new navigator," Elias answered for her.

"Really. We don't have to deal with that damn polar bear getting us lost," Ryan asked.

"Wait," Iso finally spoke, "you guys had a navigator who couldn't navigate?"

"Yeah well he's a great pilot," Elias scratched the back of his head. Iso shook her head and snorted. They entered the mess hall and Iso was assaulted by a plethora of different scents. The smell of several dozen men and badly cooked food made Iso wrinkle her nose.

"Ah man am I hungry," Ryan said as he hurried to the line to get his food. Iso could feel eyes following her as she walked next to Elias. She started to feel irritated as the men of the crew started whispering. Elias looked over to see Iso's cross expression.

"Whats wrong Iso," Elias asked handing her a plate. She seemed to snap out of it. She smiled at Elias.

"Sorry I don't like crowded places."

"Really, whys that," Ryan asked turning around with a plate full of food.

"My ears are really sensitive," Iso admitted as they took a seat. Elias was about to say something more when two more people sat down. One next to Iso and the other next to Ryan who sat across from her.

"Hi there," the one next to Iso smiled in what she assumed was supposed to be a charming manner.

"Hello," Iso said watching the two men warily not sure how to respond.

"I'm Penguin and that's Shachi," he said motioning across the table.

"Hi we didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves earlier," Shachi waved at her.

"What do you two perverts want," Ryan glared at Shachi.

"We just wanted to be friendly to our new crewmate," Shachi smiled at Iso.

"Ignore these two idiots Iso," Ryan pointed at Shachi and Penguin.

"I'm thinking that's impossibility," Iso smirked while putting her head in her hand, "Ina dick fest like this you're all perverts."

"Hey now, we're not all that bad," Elias tried to defend himself.

"Don't worry Elias I've plenty of experience with being surrounded by men," Iso told him.

"Really have you sailed on another pirate ship before," Iso told them.

"No, though I've made the acquaintance of pirates before," Iso told them.

"That's nice," Ryan said, "I just have one more question."

"Yeah," Iso raised an eyebrow.

"Are you going to eat that," he pointed at her mostly untouched plate.

"Have at it," she slide the plate over. Elias frowned at the action.

"It's not good to skip meals Iso," Elias scolded her.

"Don't worry so much Elias," Iso smirked at him.

"Yeah ya worry wart," Shachi and Penguin chimed in.

Iso was about to retort back to the two goof balls when they were interrupted.

"What de hell is dhat?" a rude gruff voice filtered over them.

"Oh Sergej this is Iso our new navigator," Elias said as all the people on that side of the table turned to face the new comer. Sergej was an older squat ruff man who wore a leather apron over his boiler suit.

"Ay don't care who she is. What is want ta know is what she be doing here?"

Elias was going to answer but Iso beat him to it, "well obviously I'm sitting." Several snorts behind her told Iso that the guys weren't very successful at hiding there laughs.

"I meant what are ya doing on this ship woman, or is your stupid female mind too dumb to figure that out," Sergej growled out.

"Oh," Iso made a face as if she just figured out what he was trying to say, "Well I'm sailing."

More snickers could be heard behind her and they just made Sergej angrier. His face was turning red and a vein was visibly throbbing in his forehead.

"Captain recruited her," Elias said hoping to intervene before something bad happened.

"Cap'n should know better'n to recruit woman they only bring trouble," Sergej claimed, "a woman is only good for doing whatever a man tells her to."

"Why you," Iso growled and stood. She had enough of this sexist bastard.

"How about that tour now," Ryan appeared out of nowhere and dragged Iso out of the mess hall.

"What the hell Ryan," Iso pulled out of the mechanic's grip, "I was about to teach that sexist asshat a lesson."

"Yeah that's why we had to go captain doesn't take kindly to crew members who fight," he explained.

"Well thanks I guess, not that I think he would mind if I did it," she rubbed the back of her they were supposed to be equals after all. Head and fell into step beside him, "Who was he anyways."

"That's Sergej he's our munitions expert. He also very old fashioned and kinda superstitious," Ryan said.

"Great. I hate dealing with people like him," Iso sighed.

"You've dealt with guys like him before," Ryan asked.

"Yeah, usually you beat them within an inch of their lives and they stop pestering you. But now it looks like I'll have to wait for him to do something stupid."

XXX

Ryan did give Iso a tour of the sub in the end because of the simple fact that she couldn't continue being lead around everywhere. The subs layout was relatively simple. There were four levels to the sub. The upper most level was only navigation. The second was the infirmary, captain's quarters and medical storage. The third level was the crew's quarters and mess hall and the fourth level was the engine room, armory and more storage. Iso's room was in what used to be one of the medical storage rooms. Iso didn't care though it was better than some of the other places she had slept in during her long lifetime.

Iso was currently in the navigation room the storm that she had sensed earlier had turned out larger than she had thought it would be. She was in Law's chair even though Bepo had warned her about sitting in it just in case he did come in.

"After we get out of these currents we should be able to turn back to our original heading," she told Bepo who was currently at the controls. Iso had learned that both Bepo and Penguin, the first mate, took turns piloting the ship. Although Bepo was the only one who had any kind of navigational skills, mostly because he was a bear.

"How long til were out of the currents," Bepo asked.

"I don't know, I'm still adjusting to sub speed, half hour maybe," Iso guessed.

"Sorry,"

"You don't always need to apologize Bepo," Iso said.

"Sorry," Bepo repeated.

The door opened and Iso spun in the chair to see who it was.

"What is our status," Law asked.

"We're working our way through some rough currents. We should be through them soon though." Iso told him.

"Good, Iso-ya after dinner you need to come to the infirmary for a physical," Law said.

"I've never had a physical in my life, why should I start now," Iso asked.

"That is not making your case any better. After dinner Iso don't be late," with that he turned and left almost running into Ryan on the way.

"Oh hey captain, just coming to give Bepo his dinner and get Iso," the mechanic explained when he saw Law glare at him for almost running him over.

"Very graceful Ryan," Iso teased after Law was gone and Bepo had his food.

"Don't mock ok, gotta keep the captain happy, last guy to piss him off took forever to piece himself back together," Ryan told her.

They met up with Elias at the entrance to the mess hall and took their place in line. Iso was once again trying really hard to ignore all the conversations going on in the room but the pirates liked to gossip more than school girls it seemed.

"You know Iso if you don't do something soon I think I'm going to," Ryan said all of a sudden.

"What," Iso asked.

"Sergej is behind us haven't you been listening," Elias asked, "and you know how captain feels about fighting Ryan."

"Sorry no I've been trying to tune out all the noise," Iso put her attention on the hateful man who was standing several spaces behind them. The line was currently at a standstill as they waited for the cook to send out more food. Sergej was muttering something along the lines of stupid women and holding up hard working men. "Just ignore him there isn't anything to be done so no use worrying."

There was a small cheer at the back of the line as the cook's assistant brought out the next pot of stew. He was concentrating on not spilling anything so he wasn't paying attention to where he was going. So when a foot shot out of the line to trip him the pot was tossed into the air and the boiling hot stew landed on Iso's back and sensitive wings.

"Ah fuck," Iso seized straight up as the hot liquid burned into her wings.

"Oh now Iso," Elias said as he grabbed a wad of napkins and wiped most of the stew off, "We need to go get this cleaned off and looked at."

"Right," Iso ground her teeth together.

"What the hell man," Ryan yelled at Sergej he had seen him pull his leg back.

"Ryan leave it," Iso called from where she was with Elias by the door.

"Come on Ryan it's not worth it," Elias said.

"Yeas liddle Ryan run to the runt and the stupid woman," Sergej taunted.

"Ryan get your ass over here," Iso said, "you're going to ruin my plan."

"Come on I'm taking you to the infirmary," Iso didn't protest as Elias dragged her away. Ryan sent one last glare at Sergej before following after them.

Ryan leaned angrily against one of the cabinets in the infirmary. "You should have let me punch the guy Iso."

"Why? That would've been pointless," Iso countered from where she sat on the exam table with Elias cleaning her back and wings.

"Yeah you know captain doesn't tolerate fighting," Elias added.

"But look at you," he gestured to her now bandaged back, "That guy's being an ass and you said it yourself the only way to stop him is to beat the shit out of him."

"Did you really say that Iso," Elias asked from where he was washing his hands.

"I did," Iso confirmed.

"Then why didn't you let me punch him," Ryan demanded.

"Because, one it's my fight and two I will only beat the shit out of him when he does something really stupid," Iso explained.

Ryan was about to argue back when he was interrupted. "What is going on here," Law asked he had heard them arguing all the way in his office.

"Nothing/Iso is injured," Ryan and Iso glared at each other when they spoke at the same time.

Law pinched the bridge of his nose as he glared at the two adults who were acting like children. He took note of the bandages on Iso's back and Ryan's barely controlled anger.

"Elias-ya explain to me what is going on," Law asked the person who seemed to be the most reasonable at the moment.

"Well when we were waiting in line to get food," Elias started.

"Not that Iso eats anything," Ryan muttered.

"We were waiting and the cook came out with another pot and he tripped and the stew ended up on Iso. Ryan saw Sergej pulling his foot back and he thinks he tripped the cook intentionally," Elias finished

"The sexist jackass," Ryan added not even bothering to hide his anger anymore.

Law suppressed the urge to sigh. It would seem that he had several problems to deal with and sort out. He figured he start with the smallest problem first.

"How much does dragon-ya eat in a day Elias," Law asked the person most likely to give him a straight answer.

"A few bites. She mostly steals from Ryan's plate," Elias informed the captain.

"It's not a big deal. I hunt every few months, a dragon doesn't need to eat three meals a day like a human does," Iso explained.

"Very well, from now on you will hunt on every island we land on. Just to ensure you don't become malnourished," Law decided, "Now why does Sergej-ya have an issue with you dragon-ya."

"Because he is a sexist ass-wipe who doesn't have a proper sense of danger," Iso huffed and crossed her arms.

"He's been bothering her since she joined," Ryan added.

"Though he usually only insults Iso this is the first time that he's gotten physical," Elias explained further.

"Why is this the first time I'm hearing about this," Law demanded. If there were disagreements amongst the crew he was the captain and thus he was the best to deal with it.

"Because I'm dealing with it on my own," Iso said.

"Yea and that's working so well," Ryan stared pointedly at Iso's bandaged back.

"Yup right according to plan," Iso smirked at her friend along with her sarcastic remark. Ryan stared to respond.

"Ryan-ya, Elias-ya you are dismissed. I want to speak with dragon-ya alone," Law told them and the two men quickly fled the room upon seeing Law's irritated expression. Once they were alone in the room Law went over to his wheeled stool and sat down, "Now why is this the first I'm hearing of this," Law asked again.

"I already told you I'm dealing with it," Iso said turning on the exam table. She drew her legs up and sat Indian style on top of the table.

"That's not how this works. You should have come to me with this," Law told her but Iso started to shake her head.

"That wouldn't have worked. I'm new and your equal. If I had gone to you the crew would've seen me as nothing but a rat, but by handling it myself I've endeared myself to your men and they've since accepted me as one of their own," Iso explained.

Law nodded his understanding of her logic, "That may be so but it would still have been prudent of you to have at least informed me of the situation. Even if you are dealing with it, I need to know about these things as captain of the ship," he glared at her. He stood up and walked over to her.

Iso grinned at him. Law had just given her his permission to go ahead as she had been.

"Let me see your injuries and then we can do your physical seeing as you are here already," Law gently turned her so that her back was to him.

"Do I really have to," Iso whined.

"Yes just in case something like this or worse happens in the future I can have a base line to treat you," Law said rubbing some extra medicine into Iso's burned wings so the pain would lessen sooner."

"Fine," Iso huffed and crossed her arms like a child.


	5. Chapter 5

Iso watched the small island that floated in front of the window of the navigation room. Bepo and her had surfaced the sub to see if they could determine if they were nearing the island. That was one of the down sides to sailing in a sub across the ocean they didn't have a lookout like the average pirate crew would and instead had to rely on electronics.

"Do you want to tell Law or should I," Iso asked from the captain's chair that she had claimed as her own when Law wasn't in the room.

"I will, it is my job," Bepo said.

"Alright I'll meet you up on deck," Iso said as she followed the bear out.

"Sorry,"

"Don't apologize," Iso smirked.

Iso opened the hatch to reveal a dreary rainy sky. She frowned as she stepped outside. The misty rain quickly doing its job of soaking her to the bone.

"Well this is miserable," she turned as footsteps approached her from behind, "You might want a jacket."

"I can see that Iso-ya. You will need one as well. We can't afford to have you sick," Law gave Bepo a pointed look and the bear hurried back into the depths of the sub.

"You do realize I'm wearing my whole wardrobe right," Iso asked Law dryly.

"I do," Law smirked as leaned against the frame of the hatch so he wasn't out in the rain.

"Besides rain won't make me sick. I am a storm dragon we're designed to be out in the elements," Iso said as Bepo came back with jacket for his captain and Iso. The dragon wave the bear off but Law put his on and pulling up the hood before stepping out to join Iso.

"Tell me what you think about this island," Law asked as he moved up toward the prow. He pulled out a looking glass to observe the island.

"My guess is this island is fairly isolated," Iso stepped up next to the pirate captain, "that equipment in the harbor is usually used in mining operations. It has to be lucrative cause otherwise no one would choose to live here since my weather senses are telling me that this rain is normal here."

"Impressive," Law agreed with her assessment, and it was impressive seeing as they were still several miles out and Iso hadn't needed the telescope to see the details of the island. "Good, Bepo take use into port."

XXX

Iso and Ryan stood on the deck of the sub along with several others. Law had left the docking of the sub to them while he went to supervise in the navigation room.

Iso watched the island with narrowed eyes while she lightly rested her hand on the hilts of the swords. Ryan noticed her movement, "What is it Iso?"

"Somethings not right," Iso said studying the town more closely. The town looked abandoned. As if the people had stopped doing whatever they had been doing in a hurry and gone elsewhere. A water pump was even left running leaving the contents of a barrel to spill all over the ground. The rain was suppressing her sense of smell, so she couldn't pinpoint any people.

"Huh," was Ryan's intelligent response.

"Where are the people Ryan? Someone go get the captain tell him somethings up," Iso called over her shoulder as she jumped from the ship to the dock.

"Hey maybe they are hiding in fear," Ryan suggested while he and several other men tied off the sub.

Iso turned and gave Ryan a look that clearly asked if he was stupid before turning back to the village.

"Well shit," Iso swore.

"What," Ryan asked concentrating on his tack.

"I found the villagers," Iso called. The doors and windows of the buildings facing the port were full of people. All with guns leveled at them.

"Well shit," Ryan agreed when he turned to look where Iso was looking.

Iso heard one of the crew men run back into the sub, hopefully to get the captain like she had told them to a few minutes ago. It was good that he did it without any more prompting though. She didn't want to put these people on edge any more than they already were by handing out orders to the crew.

A large muscular man stepped out of the central doorway. Iso assumed that he would've been attractive to a human woman with his large muscles, blond hair and baby blues, but Iso was more concerned with the large broadsword slung over his shoulder in what was supposed to be an intimidating gesture.

Iso stepped forward between her friends and the weapons pointed at them. Of all the crew currently present she was the best suited to deal with bullets. The large swordsman and the dragon stared each other down. Neither giving away their intentions. Finally after a long pregnant silence one of the opposing ends of the stare down spoke.

"Can I help you folks with something," Iso asked.

"Don't piss them off Iso," she could hear Ryan mutter behind her but she ignored him.

"You can help actually," the man spoke finally, "you can give us all your treasure, pirate."

Iso snorted out a laugh, "well don't you have this backwards. Isn't it the pirates that are supposed to demand the treasure?" The blue haired girl crossed her arms taking up a more relaxed stance.

"This isn't a joke pirate order your men to unload your valuables and I might be inclined to let you live," the man growled. Iso could hear the grips on the guns pointed at her tighten so she came to the conclusion that letting them live wouldn't happen no matter what they did.

"I think not," Iso countered the man's words.

"Very well," the man said. The man pulled his sword off his shoulder and swung it in their direction, "Fire!"

"Crap," Ryan cried as he and the men behind Iso took cover. Bullets flew at them, but Iso was fast. She drew one of her blades and swiped it in front of her causing an arch of lightening to spread out and destroy the oncoming projectiles. A familiar scent of coffee and spices surrounded Iso. It's about time she thought.

"Shit the captain's a fruit user," the man cursed.

"You're wrong," Iso smirked, "I'm not the captain."

"Room," Law appeared in front of Iso and he looked pissed.

"It's the dark doctor," someone screamed just before Law swung his Nodachi with a muttered shambles. Iso sat down on an empty crate while she watched Law work off his anger. Ryan sat down next to her.

"In the future," Ryan started, "Don't antagonize the guys trying to kill us."

"What, I had it under control," Iso flashed him a smile. Ryan snorted in response and a shake of his head. They then turned back to the captain as he finished off the villagers by attaching all of their severed body parts to the buildings that they had been previously hiding in. Law dropped his room and walked over to them.

"Well that was easy," Iso smirked, "you didn't even break a sweat."

"Your instincts are quite accurate Iso-ya," Law smirked.

"And creepy," Ryan added.

"Gather some men and search the town. Take anything of value," Law ordered.

"Aye Captain," Ryan said as he signaled some men to follow him.

"I don't think they're going to find much," Iso said she sat down on a crate one of the crew unloaded; "the town looks in pretty bad shape. Now that castle on top of the mountain there that looks more promising."

"It does doesn't, what do you think they did here that made for such a nice castle to be built," Law asked as he laid against Bepo.

"Diamond mining," Iso said casually.

Law snorted, "Diamonds. Well this island just became more interesting."

"What are you thinking," Iso asked seeing Law's calculated look.

"That I really like diamonds," Law said. They both looked up as they saw Ryan approaching, "Your empty handed."

"That's cause we couldn't find anything," Ryan bit the bullet in telling his captain the bad news.

"Nothing," Law said the faintest of scowls started to appear on his face.

"Not unless you want some squishy vegetables," he responded.

"Seems like the town was a waste of time," Law stood if he wasn't going to get anything from the town then he would just have to go up to the castle and see if there was anything of value up there.

"Yeah I can see why they were desperate enough to attack pirates," Iso said. A deep rumble reach not only Iso's ears but it reverberated through the soles of her feet.

"What is it Iso-ya," Law asked once he saw that her attention was no longer on their conversation.

""People are coming," Iso said.

"Where and how many," Law demanded.

"I can't tell exactly. There's too much distortion," she shook her head trying to relieve some of the ringing in her ears.

"Heh Heh," a strangled laugh came from the pile of slain villagers, "Lord Vano's men are coming you don't stand a chance."

Law and Iso shared a look. It was the blond haired man from earlier, "He takes what he wants and destroys the rest."

"You mean whoever lives in the castle," Law asked. The haired man just coughed in pain no longer deeming it necessary to talk.

"The mountain," Iso said.

"What," Ryan asked.

"They must travel through the mountain. That would explain what I'm hearing," she explained," Iso stood up and took her place next to Law, "Think about this whole place is steep cliff. The town has barely a scrape of land to cling to. And roads would be treacherous unless you travel through the mountain."

"Makes sense. How long until they get here," Law asked Iso.

"Ten minutes maybe until we're discovered. What're we going to do?"

"Simple go around them. Bepo take the ship and submerge off the coast. We will make contact once we're done. Iso come with me," he pulled his transponder snail out of his pocket to make sure he had it.

"Aye captain," the bear saluted, and he and Ryan returned to the sub. Iso watched as Law moved off into town before following after him. As they left the docks Law dropped his hold over the villagers and they fell to the ground all of them dead.

The walked through side roads and alleyways for several minutes making their way toward the cliff wall. Cries of disgust and outrage soon reached Iso's ears.

"Seems that your handy work has been discovered," Iso informed Law.

"Then it's time to take the high road," his room appeared briefly and he vanished only to reappear on a nearby roof top. Iso wasn't so elaborate in her building scaling abilities she merely pushed off with her legs to jump high enough to grab a roof edge and pull herself up.

Iso's eyes met Law's across the gap in the buildings. He looked away and jumped across the roof tops going in the direction they had been traveling before. When they got to the cliffs there was a large gap in the rock face with a quick scan of the area Iso confirmed that they were alone.

"I don't detect anyone around," Iso informed her captain once he joined her in front of the cave.

"Guess they weren't too concerned with trespassers," he commented.

The entrance to the cave was enormous. The heart pirate's submarine could easily fit through the entrance with room to spare. Iso knelt down and examined the ground. There were metal tracks on the ground. She rubbed her fingers on the tracks and sniffed them.

"Kimberlite and grease, sure signs that they were mining diamonds," Iso concluded.

"Doesn't look like its active anymore," Law commented.

"Might explain why the town's people were so desperate," Iso leaned back on her heels and studied the dark opening, "the castle must be the mining company headquarters."

"Good thing that's where we're going to," Law smirked and walked into the cave. He followed along the main tunnel since all the side tunnels lead downward, "rather dark in her don't you think, Iso-ya."

"Maybe for a human's eyes," Iso responded, but she still held up a hand and small bolts of lightning flashed around it lighting up the mine tunnel with flashes of blue light, "better." She smirked at him.

"Much," and he walked away as if he knew what to expect from Iso's abilities and wasn't pushing her to display them more. They continued onwards through the main tunnel until they came to another set of branch offed secondary tunnels. Iso stopped.

"Law," called to get his attention, "the human scents go this way."

XXX

The captain of Lord Vano's guard stood in a puddle of mud as he looked over the massacre of the village people in front of him.

"Lord Vano is not going to like this," the captain's second in command commented.

"Search the town the culprits might still be here," the captain order, "use the dilladogs to sniff them out."

"Yes sir, captain Bordan," the second saluted. The man ran off to a group of men who were holding onto the leashes of creatures that looked like a cross between an armadillo and a dog.

"What's up Edwin? Whats going on," one of the men asked.

"Captain wants the town searched. Be on your guard, he thinks the murders are still here," Edwin explained.

"Right," the men stated whistling at the dilladogs getting the large horse sized animals to stand so the search could start.

XXX

"Captain," Edwin called as he ran up to Bordan who was waiting in the town square.

"What do you have to report," he asked his second.

"The search team had found a trail. It seems the murders have found the tunnel sand are heading toward the castle."

"This isn't good. We will return to Lord Vano's side at once," captain Bordan ordered.

XXX

Law could see that the tunnel they were in opened up in the distance. They came upon a large cavern that seemed to be man-made. There were several tunnels that lead off the cavern in several different directions.

"Ah it smells disgusting in here," Iso held a hand to her nose. Her face paled and she had to lean on the wall of the tunnel. The smell hit her like a physical blow.

"Iso-ya, are you okay," Law had to support her from falling.

"I'm okay just trying not to yak," Iso said.

"Hold on," Law held a hand up to Iso's nose. A small room appeared encircling her head. Iso could feel her sense of smell being deadened, "better?"

"Yeah," she nodded standing back up, "thanks."

"It should wear off in an hour or so. Hopefully we'll be past the stench by then." They moved further into the room. Even Law could smell the terrible smell the farther in they went.

"What are those things," Law nodded toward several large creatures that were responsible for the foul smell.

"They look like a cross between an armadillo and a mole," Iso said.

"They must be what dug all these tunnels," Law commented.

"Yeah well they could take a bath once in a while," Iso muttered as she looked around the large room. "Have any idea what way we should go?"

"Check all the tunnels look for any sign of use," Law ordered. Iso nodded they separated and moved further into the room. There were five tunnels leaving the room not including the one they entered from. The disgusting smelling mole creatures were all chained to the wall with thick collars attached to their necks. Iso knelt down in the tunnel that was closest to where they entered. Her sharp eyes examined the passageway but the hard stone made it next to impossible to find any sign of use.

Not finding anything useful Iso moved onto the next tunnel. When a sound caught her attention. She stopped to listen something was approaching and fast.

"Law!" she called to get his attention. The pirate captain was on the far side of the cavern and looked up just as Iso called.

Law watched as Iso braced herself. A large canine creature lunged out of a tunnel and slammed into her. He drew his sword to go help his storm dragon when several more of the dog creatures entered the room along with their handlers.

Law swung his sword at the first dog to reach him and had to stare dumbfounded as the sharp blade bounced off the thick hide of the horse sized creature.

"Dammit," he cursed backing away to gain some room. With a twist of his free hand a familiar whirl of energy appeared, "room."

Iso turned just in time to see the attacking beast. It lunged at her with its mouth gapping open fully intending to take a chunk out of her flesh. The blue haired woman reached out with he hands catching the beast's top jaw with one hand and its bottom in the other. Iso planted her feet and slide along the stone a short distance until her strength won out against the beast's momentum. The beast snarled and tried to lash out at Iso but it couldn't do anything with her controlling its head.

"Oh shut up," she snapped at the creature, and then with a twist of her arms she knocked the creature onto its side. The dragon got a good hold on the beast and spun around. Iso released the large beast throwing it into the midst of the mole creatures.

The moles had stirred at the noise of the battle and now with the predator thrown into their ranks they started to panic.

Iso took a quick moment to take stock of the situation. Law was dancing around several men and dog beasts looking for an opening to unleash his devil fruit. Some of the dogs and the handlers were now turning their sights onto Iso and to add to all of that the moles were starting the charge around in their panicked state.

"This is getting out of hand," Iso muttered. At this rate they were going to attract the attention of more people and they weren't going to be friendly. The dragon decided to put an end to the chaos. "Law! Jump!"

Upon hearing his dragon's cry the captain of the heart pirates leapt into the air. He watched as lightening danced around Iso. She pulled back her fist and slammed it into the ground.

"Lightening dance!" the gathered energy arched out across the floor and jumped from person to beast leaving only charred corpses in its wake. The devastation passed harmlessly under Law and when he landed the cavern was eerily silent.

"Impressive Iso-ya," Law commented.

"Thanks," Iso panted to regain her breath, "are you ok?"

"I'm perfectly fine," Law looked around. He spotted a human corpse that was dressed slightly better than the rest. With a quick search Law pulled out a piece of paper, "Well this looks useful."

"What is it," Iso asked looking over his shoulder.

"A map," Law showed her.

Iso nodded, "We should get out of here. That noise surely attracted someone's attention."

"Agreed," Law stood and lead the way


	6. Chapter 6

"Do you have any idea how to read this," Iso held the stolen map out to Law.

"You're the navigator Iso-ya can't you read a map," Law asked taking the map that was handed to him.

"I navigate by senses and instinct not the useless paper you humans use," Iso looked around a corner before turning.

"Somehow I'm insulted by that comment," Law looked at the map before rotating it and rotating it again, "but I agree this paper is useless."

"See it's not just me," Iso watched Law throw the map away. She continued on but paused when she heard an unusual sound.

"What is it," Law asked at seeing the alerted look Iso wore.

"Shh, I heard something," no sooner had she spoken then the floor fell out from under them. Iso tried to grab Law but he was too far away. She fell into a chute and a Law fell into a different one.

Iso dug her claws into the walls of the chute and stopped her decent, but a dull thump above her told her that the way up was closed. "Great," she muttered, "way to lose Law Iso."

The only way out now was down, but not wanting to fall through space uncontrolled she started to climb down.

XXX

Law couldn't do more then hold onto his Nodachi so he wouldn't lose it as his slide down the chute on his ass. He couldn't hear Iso anymore so he could only assume that she had gone in a different direction.

All of a sudden he was out in the open air only his quick reflexes and his devil fruit saved him. He created a quick room and switched himself with some rocks on the cavern floor. He called out of the way to avoid being struck by any debris. Slowly he picked himself off the floor and looked around.

He was in a large cavern on a pile of what looked like discarded rock was in the center of the floor. They must have fallen in to the disposal system of the mine. That would also mean that he was now back at the entrance to the mine.

"Iso-ya," he called as loud as he dared. Though he hadn't heard her and there was only the opening from where he had fallen from. The dragon must be somewhere else in the complex.

Law moved away from where he had landed and closer to the walls hoping that he could find a way out. As the walls of the cavern emerged from the shadow he could see a descending stair case. Thinking that it was his best shot at getting back up at least to where he had been.

XXX

Iso hung her head out of the end of the chute she was in. it gave her a good view of the room below her. There was a small pile of rocks right below her that had the faint smell of diamonds and salt water. There was also some equipment that looked like it was used for sorting. Off to the side was a building that must be the mines office. There was also a shaft that looked like it was an elevator.

Silently dropping out of the chute, Iso fanned her wings. She glided over to the elevator and grabbed a hold of the cable. Iso quickly started to climb hand over hand up the cable by climbing Iso was not alerting anyone at the top of the shaft that she was coming.

It was a good three hundred feet that she climbed straight up and mostly surrounded by rock. There was only one door on the elevator shaft at the very top. Iso crouched on the small ledge by the door. She had her ear pressed to the door listening to a set of footsteps moving away from where she was. Once she was certain the space on the other side of the elevator door Iso pushed it open just far enough that she could fit through.

The elevator opened up into a plush lobby room. Iso looked around there were several doors one looked like it lead outside another was at the top of a curved stair case and the other looked like it lead to an admin office. The dragon went up the staircase seeing as it seemed most interesting to her. She opened the door to find a bedroom that hadn't been used in a long while.

She brushed her finger tips along the furniture it was covered in dust but she could see that it was finely made. The blue haired girl smiled this was coming with her.

Iso pivoted on her heel and left the room and walked down the upstairs hallway. The room at the end of the hallway seemed more import then the others.

XXX

Law was going to kill who ever thought it was a good idea to build stairs instead of an elevator or some other mechanical means of conveyance. His knees were killing him. The constant lifting and stepping up movement was causing inflammation to flare up in the joints. He kept going though there was no point in stopping.

At long last he sighed a sigh of relief he could see the top of the stairs. He arrived at the top to a small landing the only thing there was an old wooden door the metal parts having long since rusted together due to all the rain the island received.

He tried the handle but it was either locked or rusted shut. Cursing softly Law yanked the handle upward breaking the latch and allowing the door to swing out on creaky hinges. Law found himself in a tucked away corner of a stone courtyard. There was just a half rotten wooden shed over the stairs he had just climbed. Though it was quiet where he was the rest of the courtyard was a flurry of activity. Men in guard uniforms similar to the people who attacked them in the mine were running around following the orders of a man dressed in a uniform far more elaborate than anyone else's. He was flanked by an older harsh looking man who was the best dressed person there and stood under a canopy so he wouldn't become wet.

Law had to thin quick this was a well-organized group not like the villagers from before and they held the advantage of numbers. He looked through the crake in the door trying to find a way into the castle. Hopefully Iso had found away in and he could find her the diamonds and fly away.

A scuff on the other side of the door drew his attention. The door was suddenly pulled open and a cry of alarm was raised. The decision on what to do was taken from him. Law drew his sword and cut down the man who discovered him.

Stepping out of his hiding place; Law drew up his room as large as he could which was only about twenty feet across. He swiped his sword about severing the body and limbs of any one unfortunate enough to be in his room. He recombined them into gross imitations of the human form before dumping them and moving on.

A firing line of soldiers had formed in front of the castle doors all aiming at Law.

"Fire!" a volley of bullets came streaking toward him. He caught the bullets in his room reversed them and sent the back toward there owner. The bullets struck but not anything serious.

Law was suddenly struck from behind right below his shoulder blades it knocked the wind out of him. He didn't fall but his momentary lack of movement was enough for someone to grab a hold of him.

"Get the seastone on him," someone yelled. He tried to get loose, his sword was taken and a seastone cuff was clamped on his wrists binding his hands behind him.

His room fell without his devil fruit to support it. He was dragged before the captain of the guard and who he could only assume was Lord Vano. Law was forced to kneel in front of the two men.

"Hm so this is the trouble maker then," Vano asked.

"Yes my lord. He is Trafalgar Law from the north blue. A pirate," Captain Bordan answered.

"Not very smart of him to come on his own. Where is the rest of your crew Trafalgar? You've caused enough mayhem on your own," Lord Vano said.

"Just waiting for you to do something," Law said with a glare on his face.

"What do you mean," captain Bordan asked.

"I wasn't talking to you," Law sneered.

"And what would you like me to do," Iso asked from where she leaned against the doorframe of the main door, "I vote for killing them all."

"I second that," Law said.

"Who are you," Vano demanded as Bordan pulled him out of the way.

"His partner," Iso disappeared from the top of the stairs and reappear behind Law cutting down the two men holding him.

"Get her," Vano yelled.

"Down you go," Iso pulled Law over backwards so he was lying down on his back and then she stood over him. Iso blocked the blade of one man while elbowing another in the face. Before turning around and killing the first man. Her blades were a whirling swath of death that warned off anyone who might of approached her. The soldiers backed off. Not wanting to risk close combat the formed a firing line.

"I don't know what you hope to accomplish with this foolish stand pirate, but you have no hope of escape," Lord Vano taunted from the supposed safety of his men.

"Oh I'm not running, I'm killing you. Get it straight," Iso lifted both her arms, " **Pulse**!"

A bubble of energy spread out from Iso and crashed into the men surrounding her. The blast created a concussive force wave that threw men into the air only for them to land with sickening crunch on the stones below. Any one not thrown by the blast was electrocuted where they stood and simply collapsed where they stood.

"Iso what did you do," even he was stunned by the level of devastation Iso's attack had brought. He had watched it all from where he laid safely at her feet.

"I killed them like I said I would," she helped sit up seeing as he currently didn't have use of his hands. "You've heard the stories about my people. You better start believing in them to seeing as there all true."

Iso wrote a quick unlocking spell on the seastone cuffs, and they fell away from Law's wrists, the doctor stood and rubbed his wrists to help return lost circulation to them. He decided not to say anything else about what had just happened. The dragon had just revealed exactly what she was capable of.

"Did you find anything while you were in here," Law asked as he entered the castle. The only people left on the island were Iso and Law along with a handful of servants who wouldn't give them any trouble as long as the pirates left them alone.

"I think I know where the diamonds are. Oh and there's a lift down to a cave with access to the sea, we can take everything down that way,"

"There is," Law growled now even more irritated that he climbed all those stairs, "Diamonds aren't that difficult to move so the lift isn't a big deal."

"Diamonds aren't hard but there's a lovely bedroom set in one of the rooms that I claim as mine. Seeing as the stuff in my room on the sub is shit."

Law could only chuckle at Iso's comment.

 **A/N I just wanted to take a moment to thank everybody who has been reading and reviewing so far. Review are great encouragements for authors so keep them coming and I'll keep the chapters a rolling. I am sorry that this chapter was a little short since it wraps up this arch but the next one will be much longer as Law and Iso progress through the grand line.**


	7. Chapter 7

A few days later they were well away from the island and on their way to the next. The dragon was eating breakfast for once. She was actually feeling hungry seeing as she didn't hunt on the last island. Ryan sat down with a huff.

"What's wrong," Iso asked as she nibbled on a sausage.

"Ah my welding machine broke last night, and Shachi is busy with the other one," Ryan said as he started eating.

"That's no good," Elias said.

"Yeah and we don't have all the parts to fix it," Ryan added.

"Maybe I can help," Iso said.

"I don't think you can fix the welder," Ryan said around a mouthful of food.

"Not the welder dumbass. I can make one myself," she held up his middle and index fingers and a pinpoint beam of concentrated energy.

"That's so cool," Ryan stood and leaned over the table reaching his hand out toward Iso's hand.

"Don't touch it moron," Iso clenched her fist making the beam disappear.

"How long have you been able to do that," Elias asked.

"Any storm dragon with a lightening attribute can do this," Iso explained. Ryan was currently shoving the rest of his breakfast into his mouth as fast as he could. He grabbed onto Iso's arm and dragged her off.

"Let's go."

"Have fun," Elias waved at his two friends retreating backs.

XXX

"What the hell happened in here," Iso was currently inside one of the launch tubes for the torpedoes. Welding down new metal. The old metal was warped and scorched.

"Misfire, before we left the north," Ryan said smiling at the view presented to him inside the tube.

"And your just now fixing it," Iso's muffled reply came out.

"Captain's orders plus we only just got everything we needed to fix it," Ryan said. They worked in silence for a while.

"So you never did tell me what you and captain talked about the other day," Ryan finally said.

"What other day, Law and I talk a lot," Iso asked.

"That day in the infirmary after you got burned. What did he say about Sergej," Ryan supplied.

"Oh that," Iso stated, "He gave me permission to deal with it as I see fit."

"Ah so what are you going to do," he handed her another piece of metal.

"Nothing," came her reply.

"What! Why are you going to do nothing," Ryan demanded.

"Ryan," Iso called, "Retaliating against him will only make it worse. I need to wait it out he'll do something truly unforgivable eventually and then I will squash him like a bug."

"That sounds like a terrible plan."

"Ryan he has already resorted to physical violence there's no stopping him now," Iso explained, "Trying to act against him will only cause him to escalate sooner."

"Hey Ryan," Shachi called coming around a corner with the other welding machine. The tall mechanic held up a finger telling him to be quiet.

"What," the red head mouthed. Ryan pointed into the tube where Iso was, "Oh." Shachi took up the same position as Ryan.

"If you two asswips are done staring at my ass you can pull me out," Iso yelled. Startled Shachi and Ryan both reached in and grabbed Iso by the ankles.

"Watch the wings!"

The two men pulled the dragon out until she could stand up on her own.

"How's it look," Shachi asked when Ryan leaned down to look at Iso's work.

"Looks good," Ryan said standing back up, "Have you done this before Iso?"

"Of course," Iso responded, "I've had to weld armor before so it's the same thing almost."

"Iso-ya," law called as he came around the same corner that Shachi had come from, "Penguin needs your help in the navigation room."

"Of course, we just finished here," Iso smiled as she left the men alone.

Law leaned over the missile tube to look at Iso's work, "It looks good. How much longer until its finished."

"Should be done by tomorrow I just need to finish rewiring it."

XXX

Iso was weaving her way toward the navigation room through the lower levels of the maze like lower levels of the sub. As she walked she started to grow uneasy something wasn't right. The hairs on the back of her neck started to stand on end and her legs started to tingle like she had to run. The dragon was feeling threatened. There was really only one thing that would make Iso feel this uneasy while she was somewhere that she was supposed to feel secure.

She took off running. Bounding up the stairs she dodged around crew members and skidded around corners she slammed into the navigation room. Penguin looked up, "Hey Iso, I told Captain I nee-"

"We have a sea king incoming," Iso panted.

"What! Where!" the Penguin hated man asked looking at the radar.

"Under us its coming up from the depths," Iso moved up to his chair just as his machines went haywire as they finally caught onto the sea king coming up to them.

"I'll sound the alarm," Penguin reached over to hit the switch.

"Just the lights. The sound might alert it to our presence," Iso told him.

"Right," he nodded as he flipped the switch and red lights started to flash.

"Kill the engines. If it doesn't see us it might leave," Iso said as she could just barely make out the shadow of the beast.

"My god it's massive," Penguin said as the sea king came into view. The thing was easily four times the size of the Heart Pirates sub with red scales and claw tipped claws that beast was truly menacing looking.

"What's going on," law demanded as he came into the room. All Penguin and Iso had to do was nod out the window.

"Dam that things huge," law muttered. The sea king was currently facing away from them and hadn't noticed the submarines presence yet.

"I'm hoping it'll swim away and not bother us," Iso whispered while. Intensely watching the red sea king.

"Right a fight with that thing would not end well," law agreed.

"Neither can we out run it," Iso said.

"The current should take us away from it soon enough," Penguin added.

Because of the silence of the room the sudden whirling sound below them was quite loud.

"What is-," Iso couldn't finish her sentence before a torpedo was launched directly toward the sea kings tail fin.

"Who launched that," Penguin looked toward the missile control panel but no one was near it.

"Never mind that get us out of here," law ordered his eyes were glued to the massive creature. Penguin gunned the throttle and the sub's engines sprang to life.

The sea king roared not about being in pain but at being attacked. It spun around faster than should be possible. It slashed out at the heart pirate's submarine. Penguin barely managed to dodge the first attack. The second attack took them all by surprise. The sea king's claws raked down the starboard side of the sub sending them careening in an uncontrolled roll.

"Law get me outside," Iso said all of a sudden from where she was holding onto the back of Penguin's chair to steady herself.

"What!"

"Iso that's crazy," both the captain and first mate protested.

"It's the only way," Iso growled at them, "I can distract it long enough for you to get away."

The dragon watched as what she said sunk in. resolution crossed law's face, "Don't die Iso-ya." His room filed the sub and extended outside and with a small twist of his hand. They caught a brief view of Iso as she appeared outside the sub. She was already glowing with the light of her transformation. And then they were gone. The sub was eerily quiet. Penguin guided the sub at full speed.

"Find us an island Penguin we need assess what repairs need done some place safe," law stood from his seat.

"Where are you going captain," Penguin asked the pirate's retreating back.

"To find out who launched that missile," law growled. If Iso was hurt because of one of his crew member's stupidity they would die either by his own hand or his dragon's claws.

XXX

Iso slammed into the sea king in her true form and even though she was considered to be one of the larger breeds dragons in the world the sea king easily dwarfed her several times.

The storm dragon managed to take the beast by surprise. It hadn't seen her until it was too late. She latched onto the thick neck of the red sea king and shook her head back and forth tearing at its flesh. The sea king dislodged Iso with a swipe of its claws. Iso roared in pain from several long gashes on her right side.

Her agility in the water was the only thing saving her from further injury. Iso aimed to swim over the sea king so she could launch an attack and then hopefully get away herself.

What she didn't expect was the beast to be able to move its head up. The sea kings jaws latched onto Iso's right foreleg and chomped down. The dragon could feel the bones snapping under the force of the bite. With a desperate roar Iso let out a blast of lightening making the sea king release her. She back peddled hard and was able to make it free of the water and into the safety of the air.

Iso took a moment to gain her bearings before flying in the same direction the sub had been traveling. Her leg was left the dangle and blood dripped from her wounds.

XXX

Ryan was standing on several empty creates pounding the shredded metal back into place. They didn't have enough metal sheets to replace the damaged portions. So they were flattening the curled panels out and welding metal patches over them.

He may have been hitting the metal with a little more force then necessary because he was pissed. The mechanic wanted to tell the captain what had happened in the missile room but law was busy patching up the men who had been injured during the subs escape. Ryan would have taken care of the problem himself but Shachi had stopped him, so that left him to start work on repairing the ship.

"Hey Ryan," Elias called over the railing, "Captain wants to see you,"

"Finally," Ryan muttered. He climbed up the side of the sub, "where is he?"

"In his office," the medical assistant supplied.

"Right," Ryan whipped his hands off on a rag as he walked toward his captain's office. He knocked on the door before being told to enter. Ryan stood in front of law's desk while he waited to be acknowledged.

"You had something to tell me," law finally looked up at him.

"Yeah, it was Sergej that launched the missile," Ryan said.

"And you have proof," law asked if it was just Ryan's work against Sergej's then there wasn't much he could do since there was known animosity between the two men.

"Sergej was in the missile room with Shachi and me when we were told of the plan to avoid the sea king. Sergej muttered something I didn't hear before hitting the manual over ride for one of the loaded tubes," Ryan explained.

Law nodded, "I will corroborate your story with Shachi but if this is true it is quite serious."

"I agree captain," there was a knock on the door behind Ryan and Penguin stuck his head in.

"Iso has been spotted flying toward our position," the Penguin hatted man informed them.

Law stood and left the room with his two crew men following close behind. They were all eager to see if the dragon was okay.

When they made it outside Iso was hovering over the beach of the small island that they were docked at. She landed heavily in the sand being careful not to put any weight on her injured leg.

Law's eyes roamed over the various injuries on his dragon that he could see. There is no way he would be able to treat her as she was. As Iso settled in the sand she curled up to protect her injured side the best she could.

Law left the sub and approached the blue dragon "Iso-ya," law called. She snaked her head around to acknowledge him but didn't say anything, "You need to change to your other form so I can treat your injuries."

"No," was all she said before curling back up.

Law growled, "Don't ignore me, Iso-ya. Change back now."

"Let me sleep law," was the muffled reply.

Law stepped toward the dragon and the sand under his boot squished with the growing pool of blood surrounding Iso. The human pirate captain took his Nodachi and whacked Iso on the neck with it, "Stupid dragon do as I say before you bleed to death."

He was growing more and more concerned as the puddle of blood around them was slowly growing.

Iso huffed but concentrated. The light of her transformation surrounded her. The light seemed to swell and shrink several times before it finally shrunk down to Iso's human size and vanishing. The dragon was pale and wavered on her feet. She would have fallen if law hadn't moved forward to steady her. Iso leaned her good side against law.

"Let's go patch you up Iso-ya," law said.

"Hm, can't you be quiet. I did what you said let be sleep," the blue haired girl became even more limp as she talked. Alarmed at the way the dragon was acting law picked her up and rushed into the sub and down to the infirmary.

XXX

It was sometime later and Iso was resting on one of the beds in the infirmary. Law had stitched her injuries and set her broken arm. The stitches ran from her cheek, just missing her eye, down her right side to just above her knee. Her right arm was broken in two places once on the radius bone and once on the humerus. Her blood pressure was very low due to blood loss and law couldn't give her a transfusion since her blood type was unique to dragons.

The pirate captain had chased Elias out of the infirmary and was now cleaning up after the surgery to repair Iso's injuries. Normally his assistant would do this but he wanted to keep an eye on Iso himself and the younger medical assistant would just worry and get on his nerves.

He had yet to talk to Shachi about what Ryan had confided in him, but if what the mechanic had said was true the situation was now a lot more serious. The issue of Sergej was no longer simple harassment and he would have to deal with it in a harsh and swift manner. The munitions expert had put the whole crew in danger by releasing that missile.

A soft knock at the door had law looking up from Iso's chart, "Enter."

Bepo put his head through the door, "Captain its dinner time would you like me to bring you something?"

"No I'll go down. I have something to take care of with the crew," law stood and left the infirmary with one last glance at Iso.

He entered the mess hall and most of the crew were already seated and eating. Shachi was sitting with Elias and Ryan.

"Shachi-ya may I have a moment," law lead the way into the hallway where they might have some privacy.

"What's this about, captain," Shachi asked but he already suspected what it was about.

"Ryan-ya told me what happened in the missile room earlier I want your half of the story now," law leaned against the wall of the sub.

"Ryan and I were fixing that broken tube when the alarms went off Sergej came in to help with the missiles, but our orders were to stand down. Sergej started muttering about how it sounded like a woman's orders."

"And he launched the missile," law prompted.

"Yes, I tried to stop him but I was to slow," Shachi said.

"Very well. You may return to your dinner," law waited a moment while Shachi went back into the mess hall. Law sighed at the thought of what he was about to do, but he could not allow for this sort of thing to happen on his ship.

He re-entered the mess hall. The captain nodded to Penguin and Bepo as he passed and they stood and followed him to the center of the mess. Law tapped the end of his Nodachi on the floor to get everyone's attention.

"Earlier today when we encounter the sea king Iso made the decision to proceed with a strategy of stealth over strength and I agreed with her. A missile was launched. Most of you think it was by accident but crewmates. We were put in life threatening danger by one of our own and now Iso is fighting to stay alive at this very moment. Sergej come here."

The munitions expert reluctantly stepped forward he could see from the faces around him that running was useless.

"What tis it cap'n," Sergej asked.

"I have reports from two different crew men that it was you that launched the missile," law accused.

"Twas a misfire cap'n" Sergej tried.

"That's a lie and you know it," Ryan shouted.

Law glared at the mechanic telling him without words to be quiet, "Do not lie to me Sergej. I know when you do."

"Fine I fired de missile. Dat woman has no right to order me around," Sergej snarled.

"Iso is my equal and this ship's navigator she has just as much authority as I do," law motioned to Bepo and Penguin, "lock him up. Iso will be determining you punishment."


	8. Chapter 8

Iso came back to consciousness slowly. The first thing to return was her sense of smell, and it told her that she was in the harsh smelling infirmary. She wrinkled her nose at the smell trying not to sneeze. The dragon tried to lift her right arm to scratch her nose but it felt heavy and immobilized. Her whole body seemed to ache and throb. She groaned and rolled onto her good side to alleviate the pain in wings at least.

"Don't move to much Iso-ya. You'll open your injuries," law said from somewhere behind her.

"I don't like to lie on my back," Iso muttered she had yet to open her eyes.

"How are you feeling," law asked coming up and pulling on her bandages to check her stiches.

"I feel like crap," she finally cracked her eyes a sliver, "why can't I move my arm."

"It's broken in two places," law came around so Iso could see him, "I put it in a splint for now so I can still check your stiches."

"Hmm," Iso pulled her pillow around so it was in a more comfortable position.

"Are you experiencing any light headedness or nausea," Law asked picking up Iso's chart and started to wright down his notes.

"No should I be," Iso watched him with tired eyes.

"You lost a significant amount of blood, so it can be expected," Law explained, "you should rest."

"Can I rest in my room? It smells terrible in here," Iso whined.

Law smirked, "of course. Let me help you." He helped her to sit up. Iso let out a groan, "take it slow."

The captain of the ship helped the dragon to slowly walk the short distance down the hall from the infirmary to Iso's room. Law set Iso on her bed before helping her to lie down.

Law took the chance to look around the blue haired girl's room. He hadn't been in here since before Iso stole the furniture from the last island, "you have a nicer room then I do."

"You do know you're a pirate captain right," Iso lay on her side facing him; "you can acquire something better."

"I suppose I could. Get some rest Iso-ya I will return to check on you later," law pulled the covers up for her before leaving the room.

XXX

The next day Iso was sitting up in bed while Elias was taking a blood sample from her. "Didn't law do this yesterday," Iso asked.

"We need to compare how your blood count is today verses previous tests," Elias explained removing the needle from her skin and taking off the truncate from her arm.

"Ah, why," in dragon society when someone was injured they were taken to a healer who used magic to heal wounds and illness. They didn't do all these tests.

"Captain wants to make sure you don't become anemic," Elias set the vial of blood aside and started to change Iso's bandages.

"Ah. I have another question," the dragon watched the medical assistant remove the bandages on her stomach.

"Which is," Elias prompted as he went over her cuts. She was healing faster than a normal human but then again she wasn't human.

"What the hell am I wearing," Iso gave him a halfhearted glare. She hadn't noticed yesterday since she was so tired but she was dressed in a pair of law's pajama bottoms with his jolly roger printed all over them and one of his yellow t-shirts.

Elias looked up and blinked at her, "that's what you're concerned about?"

"Of course the t-shirt is annoying it keeps rubbing on my wings, and it's made of cotton. I only wear dragon silk," Iso whined.

"Well, we had to…um cut you out of your clothes," Elias muttered hoping the dragon wouldn't hear him.

"What! Elias that was my whole wardrobe. What am I supposed to wear now," the storm dragon demanded.

"What seems to be the problem here," Law asked as he entered the room. He could hear Iso whining as he walked by. Iso's bandages were only about half changed.

"Law! Where are my clothes? I need them back," Iso told him.

"I'm afraid they are quite beyond saving, you will have to wait until we find another island to acquire more clothing," he explained.

The blue haired girl fell back into her pillows with a huff and instantly regretted it when the action pulled at her injuries. "I look like a Trafalgar Law fan girl."

Elias snorted at her comment as he finished with her bandages.

"I'm sure there are worse things you could look like," Law smirked.

Elias gathered up his supplies, "I'm going to go start the tests."

The captain waved off his medical assistant who all but ran from the room. Law sat himself in the plush chair Iso had in the corner of her room and kicked off his boots. With a sigh he rubbed at his temples.

"Whats wrong," Iso asked she hated being cooped up in her room. She had no idea what had been going on in the heart pirate crew since she attacked the sea king.

"We don't have everything we need to repair the subs hull," Law informed her.

"Ah, can we make it the next island," Iso asked. If they couldn't then they would have to wait for Iso to heal so she could fly out to get supplies and by that time it might be too late.

"If we stay on the surface we should be fine," Law said, "we will be more vulnerable to attack however."

"We will have to remain more alert then," Iso shifted around with her good arm trying to get more comfortable, "when are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning" Law leaned further back into the chair.

Iso frowned, Law was acting stressed. More stressed then a pirate captain with a damaged ship should be, "Whats wrong?"

"There's one small problem we need to take care of before we leave," Law told her.

"Which is," Iso really regretted not being able to cross her arms she really felt like she needed to right now.

"Sergej launched the missile at the sea king," Law leaned back forward to rub his temples again, "I told him and the rest of the crew that you would be the one to issue his punishment."

"Huh, why me" Iso cocked her head to the side, "you're the captain."

"Yes but you are the one that gave the order. That's why Sergej acted the way he did."

"You want to make an example of him," Iso concluded.

"Yes, you're this ships navigator and as such the crew should follow your orders in my absence," he added.

"Alright," the dragon nodded.

"You'll do it then," Law asked.

"Of course I'll do it, never said I wouldn't. Just wanted to make sure your reasoning was sound," Iso said. "I'll take care of it in the morning before we leave."

XXX

The next morning Iso sat on a crate on the deck of the ship. She had wanted to get a look at the damage but Elias had sat her down and wouldn't leave her side just in case she decided to wander off.

The dragon was going to have to have a talk with Law and his assistant. All this mothering and over protectiveness had to end. Iso was well enough to move about on her own without pulling out her stiches. The only thing still giving her issues was her broken arm and that was only because she was right handed.

The dragon smiled and called to the mechanics who came out to join them.

"Hey Iso how are you feeling," Ryan asked.

"Yeah captain won't let us visit," Shachi added.

"I feel fine, you want to tell Elias that," Iso smiled wider at the medical assistant's affronted expression.

"Hey, you do realize the amount of blood you lost would have killed a normal person right," Elias told her.

"And you need to stop thinking in human terms I'm a dragon there's a difference," Iso poked him in the cheek.

"Maybe you should listen to him Iso," Ryan said, "you still look really pale."

"Gah, I live with a bunch of mother hens" Iso flopped back so she was lying on the crate.

"Well if you want Iso, I'll be your rooster," Shachi waggled his eyebrows at the dragon.

They all looked at the red headed mechanic and blinked before they all burst out laughing.

"Oh man that was terrible," Ryan laughed.

"Hey!"

"Yeah I've never heard a pick up line quite as bad as that," Iso whipped tears away from her eyes.

"Care to inform me as to what the joke is," Law asked from behind them.

"Captain," Elias said as he worked hard to stop laughing.

"Just Shachi making a fool of himself," Iso pushed herself up with her good arm.

"Oh so nothing new then," Law said.

"Hey what is this pick on Shachi day?"

"Yes now shut up," Ryan said resting his arm on the much shorter mechanic's head.

"Are they bringing him up," Iso asked the captain as everyone got serious." This wasn't supposed to be a fun moment.

"Yeah," they all turned as they heard footsteps approaching the hatch that lead out of the sub. Sergej appeared followed by Penguin at his elbow and Bepo behind them. They were there to make sure the munitions expert didn't try anything stupid even though his hands were bound.

The injured woman slid off her crate and went to stand in front of the hateful man. Elias was going to protest Iso's moving around but Ryan stopped him. The dragon looked down her nose at the shorter man. Her face was a hard mask. Sergej spat at her feet and Penguin cuffed him over the head for it.

"You know what you did Sergej so I won't waste my breath repeating it. I will however deal out your punishment for your actions," Iso announced.

"Do yer worse ye bitch. I ain't afraid o you," Sergej growled.

Iso snarled. She reached forward with her good hand and lifted Sergej by his shirt clear off the deck of the ship. Sergej grasped at Iso's arm but couldn't do much because of his bound hands. The whole crew watched as a change over came Iso. Her eyes normally so human like you couldn't see the minute differences in them changed. The seemed to glow with their own inner light and became slitted more dragon like.

"Foolish human, I could have snapped your head off the first time you took issue with me, but I didn't because fighting a bigot like you is pointless. But then you took it too far and you betrayed your captain and your crew. Your actions has caused them to lose their trust in you," many of the crew nodded along to Iso's words, "this crew no longer has need of you if they can't trust you. So we will move on and you will stay behind."

With a flick of her wrist Iso threw Sergej onto the beach of the island. The man looked around he hadn't yet seen the island they were docked at it was small with a thin forest of palm trees. You could see from one end of the island to the other. And there were no people to be seen.

"I sentence you to be abandoned here, we will no longer concern ourselves with your fate," Iso closed her eyes and took a calming breath.

"Wait ye can't do this. There be no one here," Sergej yelled.

"But she can," Law said so everyone could hear him, "Penguin Bepo get us out of here. Make sure that doesn't make it back on my ship." Law put a hand on the small of Iso's back and led her into the sub. The doctor wanted to ensure she did not reopen any of her wounds.

The yellow submarine slowly pulled away from the island. All the while Sergej was yelling at the heart pirates demanded that they come back for him, but no one listened.


	9. Chapter 9

It took almost a week and a half to make it to the next island almost twice as long as it should have. The sub was listing badly towards its damaged side. They had sprung several leaks during their journey flooding several rooms in the lower levels of the sub.

"We're in luck it seems," Iso said from the navigation room. Law had taken most of Iso's stiches out a few days prior now she only had to wait for her arm to heal.

"Yeah a town this large should have a shipyard," Penguin agreed.

They pulled their ship into a space close to the shipyard. So far they hadn't seen any marine activity so it was safe for them to go and talk to the ship wrights while Elias was in charge of resupplying.

"Elias I'm coming with you," Iso came out of the sub she had changed into a pair of Law's jeans that she had stolen from his closet. They were loose on Iso's lean frame but they were better than going out in pajamas.

"Um," Elias looked to his captain for what to say.

"Hey I'm fine," Iso really wanted to cross her arms but the cast on her arm still prevented it.

"It's alright Elias-ya, just keep an eye on our dragon to make sure she doesn't push herself too far," with that said he left with Penguin, Shachi and Ryan to meet with the ship wrights.

"Well let's go," Elias said. It was just him and Iso. They weren't picking supplies up just ordering them since they would probably be on this island for a few weeks, "Why'd you want to come Iso?" she should still be resting on the sub it hadn't been that long since she was injured.

"You're still thinking far too much like a human Elias. My cuts are healed, bones just take longer. Besides I need new clothes," Iso couldn't keep wearing whatever she found in Law's closet.

"I guess you're right," the medical assistant sighed, "I just worry."

"I know and I find it adorable," the blue haired girl linked her good arm through Elias's.

They made their way through the marketplace going through shop after shop placing orders for food, medicine and everything else that was on the list they had.

"I don't get it, you came to get some clothes but you didn't buy a single thing," Elias was saying as they walked back toward the docks.

"I have high standards. Besides most stores don't have a little winged girl section any way."

Up ahead Penguin waved to them as he walked toward the two shopping pirates.

"Hey guys, glad I found ya. We have an inn rented out not far from here," the Penguin hated male told them.

"Really is the sub that had off," Elias asked.

"Yeah it's pretty bad and captain decided that it would just be easier to stay in town while it's fixed," Penguin said.

The back of Iso's next started to itch while they talked. She let go of Elias's arm and rubbed the back of her neck. When the feeling didn't go away she started to look around she didn't see anyone taking too much interest in her and her companions but that didn't mean they weren't being watched. Their watchers were just good at hiding.

"Iso," Penguin's call finally her attention.

"Hm," Iso turned to face them.

"Are you alright," Elias asked concern clear in his face.

"Yeah I'm fine," the two men's faces clearly weren't buying it; "well I might be getting a little tired." Elias nodded a long with her words but Penguin looked at her for a moment longer.

"Let's head to the inn and you can lay down for a bit," Elias and the dragon turned to head in the direction Penguin had come from. Penguin gave the area a hard look before he followed after them.

XXX

Two cloaked figures lay on top of a rooftop in the market out of sight of anyone who might be looking up from below.

"That was close," the smaller of the two said.

"Yeah she's as hard to track as always," the larger nodded.

"Then you better go and get her my love, let's get this done with," the smaller said. The larger rolled into a crouch and was off leaping from rooftop to rooftop following after the heart pirates.

XXX

When they arrived at the inn Iso sat down at a table and started to eat and eat. Much to the astonishment of her friends.

"Where is it all going," Shachi whispered. When Iso had chewed her way through enough food for twenty men.

"Hey Iso maybe you should slow down," Ryan had never seen her act like this before.

"Leave her alone Ryan-ya. It has been too long since Iso-ya has had time to hunt," Law had known what Iso was doing the moment she ordered her third plate.

"Oh- wait she hunts like an animal," Ryan asked.

"I am an animal Ryan just far smarter then you," the dragon finally set down her knife and fork. She let out a loud yawn and leaned back in her chair.

"Got it," Ryan nodded, "Hey I'm not stupid."

The other heart pirates gathered snickered at Ryan's expense. The gathering soon dissolved into a party with drinking, music and dancing.

Law and Iso sat off to the side watching the others make fools of themselves, Law was there because it wasn't in his nature to party as his crewmen were, and Iso was slowly falling into a food coma, she hadn't wanted to gorge herself in this form but she had felt it necessary since she wouldn't be able to hunt until her arm was healed.

The dark haired pirate reached over and nudged Iso in her good arm. The dragon cracked open an eye to look at him.

"Go to bed Iso-ya, I'm not carrying you there," Law told her.

The blue haired girl grumbled but stood and made her way upstairs and to her bed. She was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

XXX

It wasn't until sometime later that Iso was woken up by a click in the room. The girl thought it was only Law coming in to go to sleep so she just rolled over and started to drowse off once again. It wasn't until she was grabbed from behind that she realized it wasn't Law.

Iso tried to free her arms to strike her attacker but they had their arms wrapped around her torso pinning her upper half to their chest. The dragon's attacker was a least as strong as she was. Iso kicked out with her legs striking the bed and knocking it across the room into the other bed.

Law looked up at the ceiling when he heard a loud crash from upstairs. Thinking he should check it out the captain stood and went up the stairs at the back of the bar. Loud cursing had him rushing into his room.

Iso was clinging onto the window sill with her bad arm. Her cast broken. A large cloaked figure was trying to pull her from the room.

Law's room appeared just as Iso lost her hold on the window. The dragon slammed into the cloaked figure and went limp. She was most likely unconscious. Then they were gone. Law hadn't had a chance to do anything.

XXX

"Did you have to knock her out," a light female voice asked.

"You try to talk to her when she's intent on killing you," a rumbling male responded.

"If the two of you don't shut up I'll still kill you both," Iso hissed out. She recognized these voices. They should have been back in the west blue. Iso opened her eyes to see a golden haired, golden eyed female staring down at her.

"How are you feeling Iso," the girl asked. She was dressed in flowing gold and red robes that concealed much of her figure. In one hand she held a tall staff topped with a large crystal. Her name was Samkintoramrod, Sam for short.

"Hung over," Iso growled. She turned to the male, "Did you have to use that spell?"

"You weren't about to calm down and we needed to get out of there fast," the red haired red eye male told her. He was wearing loose pants tucked into his boots. He was shirtless with armor on his arms and shoulders. A strap crossed his chest holding a large sword that peeked over his shoulder. His name was Brun.

"Any why did we have to move fast," Iso accepted the help of Sam to stand up.

"That human male was about to attack," Brun tried to explain.

"Human male?" Iso cocked her head to the side.

"The one with the hat," the red headed male elaborated.

"Law! Why would we have to run from Law?"

"Weren't the humans holding you captive," Sam asked.

"No," Iso was becoming irritated with her two friends, "I've been traveling with Law and his crew for a few weeks now."

"Then why are you so weakened. We could hardly sense your presence," the golden haired female was trying to get to the bottom of the problem.

"I had an unfortunate encounter with a sea king," Iso told them gesturing to her broken arm.

"Oh that explains a lot."

"Why are you guys here," Iso distinctly remembered leaving Brun in charge of the Shinning City and Sam was his mate so where one was the other was close by.

"Looking for you," Sam said, Iso gave her a look that said to elaborate or else.

"Your Father sent us with a message for you," Brun pulled a scroll out of his hip pouch and handed it to Iso.

"What does he want now," Iso moved to sit on a nearby fallen log to read the letter in her hand.

To my Dearest Daughter,

I have recently been made aware of the atrocious actions taken against your beloved city. I understand your need for revenge against the individuals who have wounded the Shinning City so grievously.

Your want to take on your enemy however is foolish and ill conceived. And so to enable your legion to stand at your side through the upcoming trial I have taken over the governance of the Shinning City while you hunt down those who would stand against you.

Yours Truly

Your Father

Zetnos

Her Father's seal was set into wax at the bottom of the seal. Iso put her hand to her mouth as she read the letter again.

"What does he say," Sam ventured to ask. That letter had been burning in her mind since her and Brun had set out from the west blue. Brun nudged his mate silently telling her to be quiet. The letter was something private between Father and daughter.

"Father has come out of retirement while I hunt down that bastard who attacked and he sent you two to help me," Iso explained. The blue dragon looked for a place to store the letter while Brun and Sam shared a look, "Ah I need new clothes."

"Maybe I can help with that," Sam pulled out a fist sized black stone from her sleeve. It had a red rune etched in the center of one side.

"Is that a key stone," Iso asked.

"Yup," Sam chirped.

"How do you think we managed to travel without hauling around a small library," Brun added.

"Hey," Sam poked her mate in the side. Brun just grunted, "We should be able to access your vault with this."

"Excellent hand it here," Iso held out her good hand. Her broken arm was starting to throb since she woke up.

"Perhaps Sam should work the spell, you are still weakened Iso," the red haired male suggested.

"Maybe your right," Iso nodded to Sam to start the spell. Soon a swirling gold portal lay on the ground surrounded by a magic seal.

"I will stand guard," Brun told the two women as her took up a defensive position. The two female dragons stepped into the portal and disappeared.

XXX

Law followed after Bepo as the bear tried to track Iso and her abductor. The other heart pirates were spread out throughout the city searching for the missing dragon as wee. The bear lead the way out of the populated area of the island and into the forest that covered the central mountains of the island.

"Are you sure this is the way they went," Law asked his bear.

"Aye captain, the scents lead this way into the mountain," the bear brought them deeper and deeper into the wilds of the island. So far the Law was starting to wonder whether or not they should have brought the rest of the crew.

Bepo's ears started to twitch and the smells were getting stronger, "we're getting close captain."

"Where," Law whispered. The bear pointed towards a grotto area that was enclosed by several rock formations and trees. And the sound of water told them that there was a waterfall nearby.

The captain motioned for the bear to be quiet as they crawled over one of the high rocks. Inside the shelter of the rocks stood a red haired man with large dragon wings on his back, and he was staring right at them.

"I could hear you coming for the last ten minutes," he spoke with an accent similar to Iso's.

Law stood from his place on the rocks and drew his sword, "Where's Iso?"

"You don't get to make demands of me human," Brun reached over his shoulder to grasp the hilt of his sword.

"Bepo find Iso," Law jumped from his spot on the rock and slashed down with his Nodachi. Brun drew his great sword in time to catch Law's Nodachi on it. The pirate captain leapt back from the dragon and brought up a room. He released a series of slashes at Brun. The red dragon's eyes widened at the attack but he weaved through Law's devil fruit powers to leave him in a position that he could charge at Law.

Before he could make it even half way Iso appeared in front of him. She knocked his weapon away with one of her swords in her good hand. He stopped at her sudden appearance surprised. Iso took advantage of Brun's hesitation and kicked him in the stomach. Knocking him on his ass.

"What the hell do you think you're doing," Iso glared down at the red dragon. She slammed her sword back into its sheath.

"He attacked me," he all but whined.

"That's no excuse," Iso told him.

"Iso-ya what's going on," Law asked as he approached his sword was still in his hand. He didn't want to put it away quite yet.

"This is Brun my second in command and his mate Sam. They are a part of my Legion," Iso gestured toward the red dragon and the gold dragon who was surrounded by several boxes.

"That doesn't answer my question," Law finally took Iso in. she was no longer wearing his clothes instead she was wearing long loose full skirted pants and a black breast band with red embroidery on it. She also had a sort black cape on edged in red that ended just above her knees. The cast on her broken arm was gone but she at least had it in a sling.

"They thought you were holding me captive, I have since set them straight," Iso explained.

"Why didn't you let me know you were fine," Law wanted to know.

"I though you would take longer to get out here," Iso smiled.

"Bepo's nose is almost as good as yours," Law explained. As if on cue the bear came out of the woods.

"Iso you're okay," he picked her up in a gentle hug.

"Yes Bepo I'm fine," Iso patted him on the arm. "Can you do me a favor Bepo?"

"Aye Iso," the bear saluted.

"Go get Ryan and the others. I have somethings to be taken to the sub," Iso pointed at the boxes.

"Let's head back to the inn," Law suggested, "Bepo can handle your things Iso."

"Yes it seems we have somethings to talk about."

Sam spoke up for the first time since they came back. Brun helped his mate her way out of the grotto taking the lead back to the city.

Iso linked her arm with Law's, "My arm hurts." She rested her head on his shoulder and let him guide her.

"I'll get it fixed back up once we get back to the inn," Law swept some of her hair out of the way. He didn't know why he did it just felt like he should.

XXX

Iso sat on a winged back chair with her feet up on a stool. She was in a private lounge with Law, Sam and Brun.

The gold dragon was eyeing Iso's re-casted arm that was resting on her stomach, "You know I could make you a healing potion."

"No"

"Why not Iso-ya. A healing potion sounds like a good idea, if it works," Law noticed Brun was trying to hide a snicker.

"Last time Sam made me a healing potion she turned me purple for a week," Iso was glaring at the gold dragon. Brun burst out laughing while Law looked intrigued.

"How is that even possible," the doctor asked.

"I don't know. It just happened," Sam shrugged, "I've been taking lessons from Illian. He says I've gotten much better."

"No," Iso restated," besides I have better things for you to be doing."

"I can see you planning something Iso," Brun said he was cradling a glass of whisky in his hands.

"Of course she's planning something she's always planning something," Sam added.

"I'm thinking I want to go back to sleep," the blue haired girl snuggled deeper into the chair, "But I do have a plan."

"First of all why don't you tell us why your Father sent us out here," Brun asked.

"He sent you to help me, he's coming out of retirement while we're away," Iso explained.

"What are you trying to do Iso-ya you have yet to give me the whole story," Law wanted to know now that it seemed he was going to be involved in the planning.

"I'm hunting a black dragon who thought he could get away with burning my city," Iso started, "but I have to be careful because he is the head of the shadow dragon clan. I need more reason to kill him then just him attacking my city."

"That's why you wanted to travel with me," Law concluded.

"Yes, it will allow me to get close to him without alerting him to what I'm doing. That also means you two can't travel with us," Iso looked at the other two dragons.

"Then what would you have us do," Brun took a drink from his glass.

"I need you to be distracting, draw attention away from me," Iso told them, "and if you see the others have then do the same."

"Well Illian and Tsurin are easy enough to find, but we have no idea where the twins are."

"don't worry about the twins they'll show up soon enough, but when you see the other two have them do the same as you draw the attention away from me," Iso said.

"That is a terrible plan Iso-ya. You're not going to stay as incognito as you want traveling with a crew of pirates," he wasn't about to stop drawing attention to himself just for her sake.

"That shouldn't be too big of an issue; dragons don't pay close attention to humans. We think were above them so a crew of pirates will be below a high ranking dragons notice," Iso smirked, and Law nodded.

"Yeah we're usually too busy killing each other," Sam added.


	10. Chapter 10

A few days later Iso was sitting in the private sitting room again. There were several books and papers spread out around her on the coffee table.

"What are you doing," Law asked from the doorway.

"Research. I borrowed some books on the grand line from Sam before she left," Iso looked up at him. She picked up a piece of paper from the table and handed it to him.

"And this is," he sat down and started to read.

"A summary of the next island. I also got a map on it here," she slid a book toward him.

"Sub desert huh, we will have to pick up some different supplies," Law commented as he read through Iso's report. They were heading toward a summer island called Cantogo. It was slowly turning into a desert from the constant heat and lack of rain but it hadn't been fully consume yet. There were several cities on the island all of them ruled by its own individual prince or princess.

"I think the best place to land is here," Iso tapped the northern most city on the map which was also the most isolated; "They have a reputation of being a lawless zone on the island. The marines on the island don't like the patrol there."

"Yes. We would be left alone there the most," that would also mean other pirate groups would be there as well. This could also be a chance for him to increase his reputation.

"Also this came with the paper," Iso handed him another sheet of paper. She thought he would like this one.

Law found himself holding his wanted poster and when he looked at his bounty it showed that it had gone up by four million dollars to rest at 102 million.

The captain smirked, "Must be because of the diamond mine."

"That would be my guess," Iso set her pen down and smiled at him.

They both looked up as Ryan stuck his head in the door, "the shipwrights are here looking for you captain. They want you to inspect the sub."

"Right," Law stood and looked down at Iso," you coming?"

"Of course," Iso took his hand and let him pull her out of the room.

XXX

The sub was finished when they went to go look at it. The yellow sub sat there in all of its glory ready for them to set sail. You couldn't even tell that it had been damaged. Law immediately ordered the crew to load their supplies and to set out to the next island.

Iso was walking back to her room from the navigation room. She had spent the last few hours setting the best course to their next destination. Now she was going to unpack the things that she had gotten out of her vault. This was really just a pocket dimension that she needed special tools to access.

She now had a wardrobe that was made up of more than one outfit. She had books on navigation and other things she thought would be useful. Iso had also gotten out her spell making supplies along with a couple of other surprises.

When she was finished Iso stood in the middle of her room. She was dirty but her room was and clean and organized. In her hand she held a small case. This wasn't for her but for Law. Leaving her room Iso went down the hallway to Law's office she might as well give him his present before she took her shower.

She knocked on his door only as a curtesy. Law usually gave her free reign of his office. The captain of the ship was currently stooped over a very thick medical book.

"What do you need Iso-ya," he asked.

"Oh nothing, but I do have something for you," Iso came around and leaned against Law's desk next to him, "here," she handed him the case.

"What is it," Law didn't wait for her to answer instead he opened the small box and found a pair of glasses resting on a cushion of velvet, "I know your senses are sharper than mine but my eyes aren't this bad."

"Oh shut up and put them on," Iso pushed off his desk going to his book case.

Law did as she asked just to humor her. Iso came back with one of the green books he had gotten when they first met, "you know I can't read those."

"I know and you've asked me to teach you, but I'm not the greatest teacher in the world. And I know you stumbled a little blindly when you were treating me recently and these books can help with that," Iso tried to explain.

"Is there a point to this Iso," he felt ridicules wearing glasses he didn't need.

"Yeah try reading this now," Iso opened the book to a random page and put it in front of Law.

The doctor was about to say something to the dragon but his mouth dropped open when he saw the words on the page appeared as English just like any other of his books. "How is this possible," he slide the glasses down so he was looking over the top of them and the words changed back into the foreign looking characters they were before.

"They're looky-loo glasses. Terrible name I know but they allow for you to read in foreign languages," Iso explained.

"Mhmm," Law only half heard her he was already immersed in the words of the book.

"I'll leave you to your studying," Iso smirked as she left his office to go take a shower

XXX

Iso almost ran into Elias as she came out of the bathroom.

"Oh hey Iso," the medical assistant had a clipboard in his hand, "you getting ready to head onto the island."

"Yeah are we docked yet," Iso asked.

"Yup just now. Well, have fun I'm off to do inventory."

"Well, you have fun with that," Iso waved as she went to her room to grab a hair tie for her long hair.

Law acknowledged Iso with a nod when she walked up to him on the deck of the sub.

"Well if this place isn't a dump," Iso eyed the city they had decided to dock at. It was mostly made up of slums the only visibly nice part of the city was the palace raising out of its center. A haze of smoke surrounded the whole city and her people were slow moving, not moving with any purpose or need.

"That's odd," Iso murmured so only Law could hear.

"What?"

"There are no women or children only men," Iso said.

"You think they were attacked by pirates we aren't the only ones here," Law nodded to some of the other ships in the harbor. There were at least three other pirate ships openly docked at the city public docks.

"I don't know if it was a pirate attack the people would look injured and the city would be damaged. I don't see any signs of that here," Iso nodded back to the city.

"You're right, stay close Iso I don't like the looks of this," Law told her as he disembarked.

"Fine with me," Iso said as she jumped down to stand next to him. The dragon did not like the looks of this city. She sneezed as soon as they were surrounded by the buildings. Smoke wafted around them from braziers that seemed to be burning on every street corner, "This place smells terrible."

"I don't smell anything," Ryan commented.

"Do I even have to say it anymore," Iso glared at him.

"No, no I get it you're better than all of us," the mechanic laughed.

"It's good that you finally learned what I've been teaching," Iso huffed as she followed after Law. As they walked in search of an inn she started to hear whispers follow them as they moved into the city. The men of the city were becoming restless some of them were pointing at them, more specifically her.

"Let's get off the street," Law too had noticed the attention they were receiving and he was beginning to think it would have been better to leave Iso on the sub.

"Right," Iso followed Law into an inn. She thought the inside of the inn might give her some relief but the smell and the attention they were receiving followed them into the building.

Law was talking to the inn keeper to get them rooms for their stay. Something seemed wrong though, the inn keeper, who was an elderly old man, kept gesturing toward Iso.

"What's wrong," Iso asked as she went up to Law.

"She can't be here," inn keeper was saying, "Princess Charlotte has forbidden other women from setting foot in the city."

Law looked frustrated and was about to say something when the doors to the inn were slammed open. Several guardsmen entered into the already crowded room followed by a finely dressed woman with a crown on her head.

"Well it seems the rumors are true another woman dares to defy my laws," the girl who must be Princess Charlotte said.

"It's not hard to disobey laws I don't know about," Iso commented. She studied the situation. The heart pirates outnumbered the guards not to mention Law and Iso could probably take them all on their own.

That strange smell that had been following them since they set foot in the city seemed to grow stronger and now Iso could pinpoint its source as the princess.

"That is not my problem, arrest her," the princess waved a dismissing hand at the dragon.

"Now wait a minute," Iso said as she backed up. The guards approached her, but the most disconcerting thing was the heart pirates, her friends hadn't moved. Charlotte had approached Law and he looked down at her as she placed a hand on his cheek.

"Order your men to help my guards," she asked.

Laws eyes dilated as he breathed in her unique scent, "Of course."

"Law you bastard snap out of it," Iso yelled as her friends to advanced on her threateningly. Someone grabbed at her arm and Iso threw them across the room. Penguin went flying and the dragon gasped when she saw who it was. She hadn't even smelled him, "Penguin, Shit!"

Iso went to help her friend but more hands grabbed her. Not wanting to hurt the heart pirates any more then she already did the dragon went limp. Shackles were clamped on her wrists and the guards started to drag her away. The last thing she saw before she was pulled from the inn was the princess kissing Law and the pirate captain responding.

Anger and pain lashed through Iso. How dare that bitch kiss Law. He was her human. Iso snarled and started to thrash. One of the guards cuffed her over the head dazing her. When the guard that hit her saw her trying to blink through the pain in her head he smashed the side of her head into the stone wall of a nearby building.

Iso fell limp. Darkness consumed her as the guards dragged her to the palace.

XXX

The dragon groaned as she came back to awareness. Her head felt like it was going to explode from the pounding. She cracked open an eye preparing for the backlash from the light but it was dark where she was at. The only light in the room was entering from under the thick wood door bound in iron. She was in a stone room that was damp and smelled strongly of filth and mold. Iso was bound to the wall by what looked to be sea stone shackles.

As the ache in her head started to lessen Iso started to test the strength of her bindings. The sea stone was too strong for her to break but the steel that attached it to the wall was old and rusted. Easily broken.

Iso paused and went as still as possible tuning her sense of smell and hearing into the space outside her cell. She was searching for the signs of a living person the smell that they would give off from being in a place like this, their heart beat as they moved further underground. Not smelling or hearing anything to indicate the presence of guards Iso tensed her muscles and ripped her arms away from the wall. The steel sheared away from the stone with a great shriek. Iso rushed to the door and listened for any type of movement to indicate someone heard her free herself.

Not hearing anything confirmed her suspicion that there were no guards posted on her cell. "Bad move princess," Iso muttered as she pulled some lock picks from the heel of her boot. The door clicked open after a moment of fiddling with the lock. Iso opened the door into the corridor cautiously. The shackles clunked around her wrists. She didn't have the correct tools to remove them right now so they would have to wait.

The dragon took a moment to study the dungeon around her. She didn't find anything that would indicate which way she should go to get out of the dank place. Iso ended up picking a random direction and going that way.

As she walked along Iso's surroundings started to become more and more decrepit. The dragon was starting to think she had gone the wrong way. She stopped in the intersection of two corridors and was about to turn around when she caught the scent of torch smoke. Curious as to what they could be keeping this deep into the dungeon. Really who needed a dungeon this big? Iso started to follow the scent.

She soon found the source of the smell was a door flanked on both sides by lite torches. The door was similar to all the others except this one was being kept closed by a heavy iron bar.

"Now what could you be keeping in here," Iso asked the air. The dragon easily lifted the bar and moved it off to the side. Cautiously she opened the door and took a look around.

What she found was far from what she expected. The room was lavishly decorated. Wall hangings hung on all the walls to warm the cold stone look of the room. Metal containers burned wood and some kind of incense that as Iso breathed in in she began to feel drowsy. She covered her nose with her cape to keep out the drug in the smoke while she covered the two containers with nearby lids to smother the fire.

Iso left the door open to clear out the rest of the drugged smoke from the room. The dragon entered the room to better investigate its oddness. The few pieces of furniture there looked to be more suited to be in a noble's bed room then a dingy dungeon. There was a set of drawers, a wardrobe, and even a bed draped in heavy curtains. She opened the doors to the large wardrobe that sat against one wall. Inside she found several cloth wrapped canvases.

The blue haired girl took out the first one and pulled off the wrappings. The painting was of a beautiful young girl in her late teens. She had wavy auburn hair and large warm brown eyes. The painting seemed to have captured her innate kindness perfectly. At the bottom of the painting on the frame was a bronzed plated that had a name on it.

"Princess Charlotte," Iso read. This painting looked nothing like the Princess Charlotte she had met. That Charlotte was blonde with full pouty lips and greedy eyes. Iso looked up suddenly at the curtained bed at the other side of the room. There was only one reason to fill a room with drugged smoke. Iso tore away the curtains clearing away the rest of the smoke in the room. There on the bed was the real subject of the painting Iso had found. The woman who was the true Princess Charlotte.

The dragon was starting to figure out what was really going on in this city and it wasn't anything that she liked. While she waited for the princess to wake up Iso tried to come up with a plan of what to do. First of all she had to get Law and the others back, but to do that she had to break whatever control the imposter princess had on them. She also wanted revenge against the fake princess for locking her up and for kissing Law.

As she thought about her last sighting of the pirate captain the pain and anger again lashed through her. Iso clamped down on the emotions and shoved them away not wanting to think about their implications just yet.

A soft moan drew the dragon out of her thoughts. She looked down to find large brown eyes staring up at her, "What… where I'm I," the girl asked confused.

"Take it easy princess. You've been asleep a long time," Iso helped her to sit up, "as to your question we're in the dungeon."

"Who are you," Charlotte asked. She had never seen this woman before.

"I'm Iso, and we need to get out of here."

"Penelope," the princess said.

"What?"

"Penelope she was my maid. She attacked me and locked me down here," the princess said.

"How's that possible," Iso helped the princess to stand.

"I don't know. The guards they seemed to be obeying her orders," Charlotte shook her head as Iso handed her a pair of velvet slippers to put on.

A scuff behind them made Iso snap around. In the doorway were three men wearing guard uniforms. One of them was Ryan. He had removed his jump suit and bandana revealing his unruly orange hair.

The princess shrank back with a soft "eep."

"Stay back," Iso raised one hand to motioning the frightened girl further back while her other raised in a defensive position. The shackles on her wrists clanked heavy on her arms.

"You're not supposed to be here woman," one guard spoke.

"Yeah well you should put up a sign then. Not that I would listen," Iso taunted.

The guards snarled. They drew swords the first one who spoke charged her. Iso ducked the swing while grabbing his sword arm with one hand and hitting him in the solar plexus with her elbow. The air was knocked from his lungs leaving him pliable to Iso's moves. The dragon swung him into the other guard who was trying to flank them making them fall into one of the covered fire pots causing ash to billow into the air.

"Dam it," Iso swore as she turned to Ryan who tried to use his greater height to his advantage by grabbing her. Iso moved into his tackle and slammed him into the wall. The tall mechanic slid to the ground not moving. As soon as she was clear Iso backed away from the door. The two guards who had fallen on the pot were out cold. The fire was out but the ashes still contained the drug. Already Iso could feel the effects of the drug.

"Cover your nose princess. There's a sedative in the air," Iso followed her own instructions by covering her mouth and nose with her cape while the princess brought the sleeve of her dress up to cover her nose.

"What are we going to do," Charlotte asked.

"For now, getting out of here," Iso helped the princess to step over the bodies in the doorway and into the corridor where the air was cleaner, "Stay her I'll be right back."

Iso disappeared back into the room and soon re-emerged with Ryan draped over one shoulder and the un-spilled pot of drugged ash in the other.

"Why are you bringing him," Charlotte asked.

"He's a friend," Iso handed her the pot, "Let's go."

 **A/N sorry this took so long even though I like this arc this chapter and the next one were just a pain in the ass to write. I just couldn't get them quite right but I like how its turning out now.**


	11. Chapter 11

"Where are we going to go," Charlotte asked Iso after the dragon had finally gotten them out of the foul smelling dungeon and into the fresh air of the streets surrounding the palace.

"Hang on let me think," Iso had them crouched into a slight niche in the wall of the palace defenses. The first thing on her list of things to do was to figure out how Penelope was controlling all the men. Of course the ideal person to do this was Law but he was one of the ones being controlled. All of a sudden a thought popped into her head. If she couldn't have Law go for the next best thing. Elias was doing inventory on the ship. Hopefully he was still there.

"I know where we're going," Iso stood and moved away from the wall. The princess followed behind her.

"Where?" Charlotte asked.

"Back to the ship. Hopefully Elias hasn't left yet," Iso said.

"A ship. I've never been on a ship before," Charlotte said her excitement momentarily over ridding her fear.

"Well then you're in for a treat."

It took them awhile to make it to the docks. Not only was the palace as far away from the ocean as it could be. Iso kept them to the night shadows of alleyways and side streets not wanting them to be seen. After they made it onto the ship Iso shut the hatch to the outside and locked it down tight.

As they passed Iso's room she opened the door and motioned the princess in, "Stay in here, lock the door and open it for no one but me."

The princess nodded and went in. the door shut as Iso went down the hallway to the infirmary. She laid Ryan on one of the beds. He was surprisingly still out cold. The dragon didn't think she hit him that hard.

Now to find Elias. Luckily the air here was clear of the sweet smell the rest of the city was bathed in. following his most recent trail Iso tracked Elias to one of the lower level storage rooms. The door was open and the blue haired girl could hear rustling inside.

"Elias is that you," Iso called out.

A thump and the medical assistant's muffled cursing identified it as him, "Iso what are you doing back here so late."

"Somethings have happened," Iso said as she smiled at the smaller man. He was free of the scent that clung to everyone that was being controlled.

"I'll say that's quite the bruise you have," he motioned toward her head.

"It probably looks worse than it is, any way Ryan needs you to look at him more," Iso motioned up and Elias' eyes locked onto the shackle on her wrist.

"I think you need to explain whats going on," a lot must have happened in the few hours since they had docked. As they went back up to the infirmary Iso explained what had happened.

While Elias was examining Ryan, Iso retrieved the princess from her room and then she sat down to work with some heavy duty lock picks trying to get the shackles off her wrists. Ryan was on the bed behind her strapped to the bed. He was fine just asleep according to Elias. The medical assistant was currently looking at the contents of the pot that Iso had brought from the princess's cell while Charlotte watched from her perch on Law's stool.

"This is quite odd. I've never seen anything like this before," Elias said looking up from his microscope, "you said the chemical controlling everyone was similar?"

"It was distributed the same way, couldn't you get any off of Ryan," Iso responded as the shackle on her right wrist finally came free.

"No I couldn't find a trace of it," Elias looked over to their sleeping crew mate. Iso followed his gaze the smell on the mechanic had faded a lot since she had brought him on board.

"Does that mean he won't be under control when he wakes," Charlotte asked.

"It's looking that way," Elias said.

"So the target needs constant exposure to whatever this is for it to work," Iso concluded. She turned back to the medical assistant, "Elias could this be a devil fruit?"

"I don't know. It could be a possibility," Elias shook his head.

"Well only one way to find out," Iso tossed one of the shackles to Elias who clumsily caught it, "Dunk that in the dust. If it neutralizes it then we're dealing with a fruit user."

Elias dropped the shackle in the pot of ashes and sedative before taking another sampled and testing it with his machines, "You were right Iso. The sedatives gone after the contact with the sea stone."

"So Penelope has eaten a devil fruit then," Charlotte concluded.

"It would seem that way," Iso slide off the bed and walked over to Ryan with the other shackle. She placed it in his hand and almost immediately he snorted awake.

"Wha-where am I," he jerked up but the restraints stopped him from moving too far.

Elias hurried over, "Take it easy Ryan."

"Why am I restrained," he asked even as Iso started to take them off.

"You were being controlled by a devil fruit user," Iso informed him," do you remember anything?"

Ryan looked lost in thought for a moment, "Just…I remember a beautiful woman."

"That must be Penelope," Charlotte said. She had come closer to get a better look.

"Hm and she's not even that good looking," Iso muttered.

"Hey guys where is the captain," Ryan thought that he would have been in the infirmary if there was a fruit user on the loose drugging his crew.

"He and the rest of the male population are being controlled," Iso explained.

"What are we going to do Iso," Elias asked. He looked to her because she was the next best thing next to Law.

"I've been thinking about that," Iso said, "in theory if we take out Penelope then everyone else should snap out of it."

"But there's an army between us and her," the princess protested, "How would we get through them. We can't hurt them it's not their fault that she's controlling them."

Iso groaned. The princess was right they couldn't just barge in killing freely. The might accidently hurt one of their friends. The dragon's eyes landed on the pot of now inert ash. A dangerous gleam entered her eyes.

"Hey Elias how much sedative do we have in stock," Iso asked.

"Quite a bit, but we couldn't possible inject every single person," he said.

"We might not have to. I'll be right back," Iso hurried out of the room.

"I hate it when she gets that look in her eye," Ryan muttered putting a hand to head, "Ah I lost my bandana."

"Really that's what you're worried about," Elias shook his head.

The dragon came back in carrying a sealed clay pot, "What if they breathe in the sedative?"

"That would work. If we could powder-ize the sedative. Right now it's all liquid," Elias said.

"That's where this comes in," she set the pot on the work counter, "Its vaporizing powder. It binds with whatever agent you want air borne and when it's impacted it vaporizes."

"Ok, why do you have something like that," Ryan asked.

"I thought it would be useful," Iso said.

"But how do we keep ourselves from breathing it in," Charlotte asked.

"Gas masks," Elias and Ryan said at the same time.

XXX

It took Elias awhile to mix the right amount of sedative into the powder. Which was then split into small cloth sacks that would allow the vapor to permeate them. This would make it simple for one of them to just throw a sack at an attacker and get them to breathe it in.

Iso outfitted the princess in some light weight leather armor and pants. The dragon would have preferred the girl to stay behind but she refused to do so, so now she was carrying the bag with the sedative. This left the three pirates open to fight off attackers. Iso had swapped out her swords for a Bo staff while Ryan had two batons instead of his usual knives and Elias preferred to fight hand to hand. They were all wearing gas masks. Iso's was one that she had specially made for her and looked like metal covered cloth.

"What's our plan of attack Iso," Ryan asked as they made their way toward the palace.

"I was thinking the front door," Iso responded.

"Isn't that a little too dangerous," Elias asked. They were the few against the very many.

"It'll draw the most people to us allowing for them to be knocked out faster," Iso explained, "princess try to stay behind us and throw into the highest concentration of people you can find."

"Yes of course," Charlotte nodded as she rushed to keep up with the pirates.

As they came up to the front gates. They could see the guards up on the wall pointing toward them. One man rushed off supposedly to inform the fake princess of their intrusion. Word of Iso's escape and of her taking the real princess should have already reached the imposter's ears.

"Stand down intruders or we'll shoot," someone yelled at them.

"Like hell we will," Iso shouted back. Elias grabbed the princess while they all looked for shelter from the gun fire leveled at them. The dragon swung her Bo staff in a vertical arch creating a large wave of electricity that destroyed all of the bullets that raced toward them. When it was clear Iso raced forward and with a kick she knocked the thick gates in.

On the other side were a slew of guards and men waiting for them. They charged at Iso and she was forced to defend herself. The dragon tried to stay within the arch of the gateway where she had the advantage of the bottle neck. Ryan and Elias soon joined her and the men started to drop from the sedatives thrown by the princess.

The fighting went on for quite some time, far longer than Iso would have liked. When finally it calmed down the four fighters stood in the center of the courtyard surrounded by bodies.

"Dam they wouldn't stop coming," Ryan said looking around at all the bodies surrounding them.

"Yeah I didn't know that the palace had this many guards," the princess added.

"My guess is these are the pirates from the other ships in the harbor," Iso pointed toward one man who had a tattoo of crossbones on his neck. "We should keep moving," Iso moved toward the wide stair case that lead up to the front doors of the palace. She pushed the doors wide open.

"Where should we start," Elias followed the dragon through the doors.

"The throne room, it has the best view in the palace. Penelope always said she liked it there," Charlotte suggested.

"Point the way princess," Iso nodded to her.

Charlotte pointed straight ahead to another set of double doors, "Through there."

"Think we should knock," Ryan laughed.

"Why start now," Elias added.

Iso just glared at them before kicking the doors in. she hit them hard enough to knock the thick wood off their hinges. They fell with a large boom.

There were several more groups of guards waiting for them. The crew of the heart pirates were also scattered amongst them. On the other side of the room was the raised platform where the throne should have stood. Instead it was covered in pillows and cushions. The false princess lounged there trying her hardest to look unconcerned. With her was Law who was now shirtless for some reason. The fake princess was using his chest as another pillow. Penelope traced her fingers along Law's tattoos as she watched the four approach.

"Penelope, you need to stop this," Charlotte called once they stopped moving forward.

"Penelope? No I'm not Penelope any more. I am Princess Charlotte as I should have been from the start," the imposter said laying her head on Law's shoulder.

"Well she sounds insane," Ryan said.

Iso snarled at her. Her friends turned to look at her. They were surprised to find her eyes had taken on their more dragon like appearance that only happened when she was truly mad.

"You have caused me enough trouble," Penelope pointed at her.

"I haven't even started to cause trouble bitch," Iso spat at her, "you should be glad the princess has a kind heart otherwise the bodies behind us wouldn't be breathing anymore."

Penelope paled more from Iso's threatening tone and her murderous aura then what she said. The imposter turned to Law, "Kill her my pet."

The pirate captain stood bringing his sword up with him from where it had lain among the pillows. He drew the long Nodachi and tossed aside the sheath. Law charged at Iso slashing down at her with his blade. Iso caught the Nodachi on her Bo staff. The magically reinforced wood shook at the force of the blow.

Law's Nodachi slide down Iso's staff and off to the side allowing the dragon to deliver a glancing blow to this shoulder. The pirate captain glared at her and gave a good imitation of a growl.

Iso smirked that smirk that Law had come to hate at times. Then she took off running. The dark haired male snarled again and went off after her.

"Did Iso just managed to take the captain out of the fight," Elias asked.

"I think so. That just leaves these jokers," Ryan pointed at the gathered guards.

"Let's do this then," Charlotte took up her stance. The two pirates looked at her.

"Right."

"Stay behind us."

XXX

Iso slowed down once she reached the garden. The space seemed like a good spot to beat some sense into Law. The garden was also clear of the braziers that had been ever present everywhere else. The dragon surmised the fake princess didn't want to ruin her view, but it left an area of clear air for Iso to work with.

The blue haired girl turned to face Law as she heard his footsteps approaching. His sword was down to his side and a demented look covered his face.

"Guess you lose some of your when you're being controlled by a stuck up dumbass," Iso commented dryly.

Law didn't say anything he just charged. Iso swept his sword aside with one end of her staff and swung at Law with the other end. The pirate captain dodged the hit and side stepped several times trying to flank the dragon.

She turned to face him. Law feinted right and swung left forcing Iso to jump back further into the garden. Law gained the upper hand striking at Iso over and over again. First blood in the fight went to Law as several shallow cuts appeared on the dragon's arms and exposed stomach.

Iso continued to back up and away from Law and his relentless attacks. She and to find a way to stop him. She couldn't keep of fighting Law and hope for Ryan and the others to stop Penelope. Law kicked her in the side forcing her to lose her staff and roll along the ground.

The human approached her as she lifted herself up on her arms. And then she saw it through his legs behind Law was a pond. If she could get him in there it might neutralize the control the imposter had on him. Just like the sea stone did to Ryan.

The dragon pushed herself forward toward Law. He tried to cut her down with his Nodachi but the strike was sloppy. Iso was able to move inside his swing. They collided and fell back. Law lost his sword and landed with a hard thump. Iso jumped on top of him trying to get a hold of him so she could get him into the water. The pirate captain rolled them over so he was on top. His hands went for Iso's throat squeezing, but Iso was able to get her legs between them with a strong push Law went flying and landed with a splash.

The dragon jumped on top of the human once again holding him under the water. The pond was shallow and Law could have easily stood. Iso held the pirate captain under the water as he struggled, but the more he struggled the weaker he became. As soon as Law went limp Iso hauled him out of the water hoping that it had worked.

Law gasped for air, "What the hell Iso-ya are you trying to kill me?"

"I don't know are you done being stupid," Iso shot back.

The dark haired man finally looked around him and didn't recognize his surroundings, "Where are we? Whats going on?"

"Short answer. We're in the palace an imposter princess with a devil fruit has control of all the men in the city," Iso told him, "We're trying to stop her to get you and the rest of the crew back."

"Who's we," Law staggered up to stand.

Iso followed him squeezing the excess water from her cape, "Ryan Elias, me and the real princess Charlotte."

The pirate captain rubbed his head, "I vaguely remember something but it's so cloudy."

"Yeah Ryan was the same way," Iso took off her mask and handed it to him, "here take this she controls you through something you inhale."

"Don't you need it," Law hesitated in taking the offered object from her.

"I'm not as effected as the others and the control only seems to work on men," Iso pushed the mask at Law and he finally took it and put it on, "we should hurry I left Ryan and Elias with a gob of men to fight."

XXX

They came back to the throne room to find it had descended into chaos. Ryan and Elias stood in the center of the large room with the princess between them. Charlotte had lost her bag and they were now fighting to just stay alive.

Law scowled at the sight and brought up his room. And in his typical fashion bodies went flying. The room was soon cleared of guards. Law shoved them all off to one side to dealt with later.

"Captain thank god. You're back to normal now right," Ryan asked as they limped over to where Law and Iso stood.

"You do know some of the crew were in there right," Elias pointed toward the pile of body parts.

"I'll sort them out later. Whats the status here," Law asked.

"Penelope took off through the door behind the throne," Charlotte pointed.

"Thank you princess-ya," Law nodded to her, "Iso-ya." He turned to the dragon. Who was no longer there.

"Where'd she go," Elias asked looking around for the blue haired girl.

"She must have gone after the imposter," Ryan said.

"Iso was awfully angry with Penelope earlier," the princess commented.

"Dam it," Law took off running tearing the off the tapestry in his haste to get through the door and go after Iso.

XXX

Iso tracked Penelope up several flights of stairs and into the master bedroom. The imposter stood in the middle of the room with a knife in her hand.

"You ruin everything," she yelled at Iso, "I finally had the like I deserved and you ruined it all. I'm going to kill you. Then I'll start over. Yes that's it."

The girl was clearly insane. As she succumb to muttering about what she going to do.

"You can't kill me Penelope. It's over. Drop the knife," Iso tried to reason with her but she didn't really think it would work.

"Over. No, no you see my devil fruit. The scent scent fruit made me an incense woman. It lets me control people yes but that's not all. Did you know incense contains poisons," Penelope tilted her head in an insane smile, "I can feel them in you. You've been breathing them in the whole time you've been running around trying to stop me."

Iso's eyes widened. All of a sudden she couldn't breathe. Her lungs wouldn't take in air like she told them to. She fell to her knees.

"Impossible," the dragon coughed she could feel something trickle down her chin.

"Oh poor baby," Penelope crooned as she came up and caressed her face, "Don't worry I'll take good care of your pirates especially that captain."

Iso saw red. She may have snarled she didn't know. What she did know was that she punched upward with her fist. Her clawed hand tore through skin and bone to grasp a beating muscle. The dragon ripped out Penelope's beating heart and crushed it in her hand.

The imposter fell dead on the floor. Iso stood the hold that the devil fruit had over her was gone. The dragon coughed up more blood as she turned to hear approaching footsteps.

Law stood in the doorway surprised at finding his dragon bloodied. Her prey dead at her feet.

"What happened," Law asked.

"I killed her obviously," Iso staggered toward him.

"Are you okay," he noticed the blood she kept coughing up.

"I'm fine she tried to poison me but it's gone now," she looked back at the body real quick as if checking to make sure it was dead, "I need a shower and sleep. Maybe not in that order."

Law guided her out of the room, "Don't worry I'll get you fixed up."

Iso stopped to look at him, "I'm mad at you though so I'll pass."

"huh, why," Law was confused.

"I'm not telling," Iso left him standing there outside of the room where the dead body of the woman who had tried to take him from her lay. The dragon had figured somethings out in that room, now she had to figure out what the impact of her discoveries were going to be. Because it was never simple when a dragon mated with a human no matter whom they were.


	12. Chapter 12

Law growled in frustration. He sat in his office at his desk. It had been several days since they had left Cantoga and Iso was still avoiding him. He glared at the door. It was about this time that Iso usually came to bother him. The captain didn't think she would come today just like she hadn't come the last few days.

There was a knock on the door, "Come in."

Iso came in with several pieces of paper which she handed to him.

Law slowly took the papers, "What's this?"

"Info on the next island," Iso said, "that's all I could find. I'll be staying on the ship."

"You are not staying on the ship. You'll be coming with me," Law glared at her.

Iso leaned over the desk, "No."

"That wasn't a request Iso-ya," Law growled.

"It's a good thing then that I don't take orders from you," Iso spat before turning on her heel to leave.

"I expect you to be on deck when we dock," Law told her.

"Prepare to be disappointed then," Iso slammed the door behind her.

She stomped into her room and threw herself onto her bed with a groan. This was just a giant cluster fuck. On the last island Iso had come to the realization that Law was her mate. Her one and only mate. Dragons mated for life and she had chosen Law of all people.

Now normally when a dragon mated it was something to celebrate, but Law was human and that presented a problem.

Most dragons disliked humans at the very least some few though hated them with a passion. Now if Iso was some low level dragon with no status she could live with Law in the human territories, but she was a lord general one of the nine dragon lords the most powerful dragons in the world. Iso would have to tread very carefully so that Law wasn't hurt and if that meant distancing herself from Law then so be it. She would convince him that she was mad at him while she thought of a plan when in reality she wanted to spend every possible minute with him.

XXX

Law tapped his foot on the deck of his ship. They were docked at a winter island. There weren't any docks in the only town on the island so they had dropped anchor a few miles out of town.

The island was fairly large which made it surprising that there was only one small town on it, but then again it was a winter island. The tall mountains at the center of the island were covered in tall pine trees and it looked like timbering them was the main industry of the island.

The captain growled turning around all of the crew who were supposed to go to the island with him were on deck minus one.

"Ryan-ya where is Iso," Law demanded.

"She's in her room refusing to come out," the mechanic informed him.

"So that's how it's going to be," Law said. "Room."

His powers encompassed the ship and Iso appeared in a heap of limbs on the deck of the ship.

"What the hell Law," Iso sprang up and snarled at him.

"I did tell you that you were coming with me," Law told her.

"And I said I'm staying behind," Iso countered.

"Sorry I don't think so," Law leaned in to tell her before walking off.

"At least let me get my jacket," Iso yelled at him. A bundle of cloth dropped on her head. She snatched it out of the way; "This isn't mine!" she was holding onto one of Law's jackets.

"We should hurry Iso, we shouldn't be in the cold to long," Elias said from her side.

"Right," Iso wrapped Law's jacket around herself. She hated the cold and the cold hated her. Not only was it unpleasant for Iso to be in the cold it was dangerous. Every breed of dragon had an environment that was dangerous for them to be exposed to for too long and for storm dragons that was the cold. If she was outside in temperatures lower than freezing for more than a half hour she put herself in danger of causing serious harm to her body. Slushing through the snow did nothing to help her mood. By the time they reached the town her legs were numb her loose pants did little to insulate her legs from the cold wet snow.

They went into the only inn in the town and Iso made a bee line for the merrily burning fire on one side of the great room. While Law went to talk to the innkeeper about getting rooms for their stay.

"Hey Iso," Ryan plopped down next to the shivering dragon, "Are you okay?"

"No I'm not. I should be on the sub where it's warm not out here freezing my ass off," Iso growled.

"Hey it's not too bad," Ryan smiled at the dragon, "so what's going on between you and captain?"

Iso looked at him, "That's none of your business Ryan."

"Sorry," the mechanic leaned back into his chair as he watched Iso continue to shiver. A sudden thought came to him weren't dragons lizards, "Iso are you cold blooded?"

The dragon snapped her head around to look at him, "How…you can't tell anyone."

"Why the hell not. Iso you're in danger out here," he whispered. While looking around them.

"Don't you think I know that? I wanted to stay on the freakin ship for a reason," Iso hissed. She looked up as the door opened letting in a gush of fresh air. She took in a lungful of air along with a familiar scent.

"Iso, Iso what is it," Ryan asked when he saw her distracted look.

"Don't tell anyone where I'm going," Iso stood and went to the door.

"Hey where are you going," Ryan asked but it was too late she was out the door.

Law had only paid attention to the inn keeper with half his mind. The other half was on Iso and trying to make out the conversation she was having with Ryan but they were too far away and talking to low. Something the elderly man was saying to him caught his attention.

"You should keep an eye on your lady over there mister captain. Some of the women folk and children have been disappearing lately. Wouldn't want anything to happen to her now would you?"

Law looked at the old man, was that a threat? "Iso can take care of herself." With that settled Law turned just in time to see Iso leave the building and Ryan yelling after her. He went to stand behind his mechanic "Ryan-ya, where did Iso-ya go?"

"I honestly don't know captain," Ryan said.

XXX

Iso leapt from branch to branch in the pine tree forest that dominated the island. She was aiming for a point that over looked the ocean following the scent she had found in the inn. The dragon landed in a cliff side clearing.

"Rue, Rye I know you're here. Get your asses out here," Iso yelled. The scent she had been following had belonged to two members of her legion a pair of twin ice dragons who were usually up to no good.

Two adolescent dragons appeared. They were identical white dragons. They stood at a little over four feet tall with spiky stark white hair. They were dressed in shades of white and light grey, and they both held a flexible willow staff with a hook on one end.

"Iso!" they yelled before jumping on her in an excited hug.

"What are you doing out here," Rue asked.

"Yeah you're not equipped for winter, Iso we need to get you out of the cold," Rye took a hold of her hand and started to pull her further into the island.

Rue and Rye laughed and jumped around as the played around Iso. The storm dragon laughed at their antics. Eventually they came to a cave that was little more than a crack in the rock.

"Come on Iso," Rye called as he went into the cave.

"Yeah you'll like it," Rue said as he followed the taller dragon into the cave. They had to squeeze through some tight spaces but as they rounded an outcropping of stone they were enveloped by a cloud of hot moist air.

"You guys found a hot spring," Iso stood amazed. High vaulted ceilings with mineral deposits hanging from it in immortal icicles. In the back sat a pool of bubbling mineral water, "This is amazing."

"We've been here about a month," Rue said.

"We were lucky to find it. It's almost impossible to find it unless it's sunny," Rye added.

"What did you do," Iso narrowed her eyes. The twins didn't usually hide out in caves. They thrived on contact with other people and were usually found in the largest gathering of people you could find.

"Nothing," they said in unison looking anywhere but at Iso. She put her hands on her hips giving them a look that told them she didn't buy it.

"Um we may have," Rye started.

"Broke an island," Rue finished.

"An island!" Iso shouted, "How the hell did you break an island?"

"We kinda froze it," Rye admitted.

"It'll thaw out eventually," Rue tried to soften the blow.

Iso groaned and put a hand to her forehead, "Ah! I can't leave you two alone can I."

"Maybe you should take a bath Iso," Rye said.

"Yeah we'll go hunting for dinner," Rue offered.

Iso pointed at them, "I acknowledge your Segway and will allow it, but this discussion is not over."

XXX

Law paced back and forth in his rented room. Iso had been gone most the day and it was now nearing night fall and she had yet to return. He had wanted her with him so that he could figure out why she was mad at him and then attempt to fix it. But with her being gone that was an impossibility.

There was a knock on the door and Law turned to tell them to enter. He had some small hope that it was Iso, but Ryan walked in instead.

"Sorry to disturb you captain, but I thought that there was something you should know," Ryan wringed his hands in front of him in a sign uncharacteristic of nervousness.

"What is it Ryan-ya," Law prompted.

"Well Iso told me not to tell anyone but it's getting late and will only get colder as the night goes on so I thought it best to tell you," Ryan rambled.

"Ryan!" Law snapped trying to get the taller man to the point he was trying to make.

"Iso is cold blooded, being on this island puts her in danger of freezing," he rushed.

Law felt his stomach drop out from under him. Iso was cold blooded. She could freeze to death. Then he remembered that she kept insisting on staying on the ship where it would stay warm. He had been such an idiot. The captain grabbed his coat off the chair he had thrown it on and walked out the door.

"Go get Bepo so I can start a search, and send some men back to the sub to check for her there," Law ordered.

He went outside and took a look at the island trying to guess where Iso could be. Tall mountains and pine forest dominated most the island and would take time to search. Bepo came out of the inn behind him.

"I need you to find Iso Bepo," the dark haired man told the bear who nodded and started to sniff the air. The bear must have found a scent because he started to move away from the town and in the opposite direction of the sub.

They followed the trail up the coast and around the bulk of the mountains so they lost sight of the town. The moon shined off the snow providing them with ample light to travel by.

"She stopped her and met up another scent," Bepo said, "They changed direction."

"Good work Bepo," Law followed after the bear.

"Sorry"

What could Iso be doing out here and who was she with. There weren't any signs of a struggle so Law had to assume that Iso went with them willingly.

XXX

Rue looked up from his kill to look at his twin. 'Do you smell that' he thought.

Rye nodded, 'humans are coming'

'Let's ambush them," the mischievous twins thought at the same time.

They leapt and raced through the trees silent as a ghost. The two dragons landed in the branches above a man and a bear.

'Is that a talking bear,' Rue asked his brother.

'I wonder if Iso would let us keep it,' Rye wondered.

The twins took off again running in a circle around the two people. Their speed kicked up a thick whirlwind of snow cutting off their prey's sight.

Law and Bepo stopped when the snow started to blow around them. This was strange a snow storm did not just appear especially when the night had been as clear and calm as it had been. Law brought up his room and reached out with his senses coming into contact with two rapidly moving figures. He grabbed onto them with his devil fruit powers and brought them to a stop in front to him.

The snow calmed and settled to reveal two identical boys. They were almost completely white so it was difficult to see them in the wintery landscape.

"Hey let us go," one said.

"Yeah we're supposed to be ambushing you," the other added.

"No wait this is easier,"

"Yeah give us your bear."

"He's cool,"

"And Iso might let us keep him."

"Wait how do you know Iso," Law demanded their speaking in turns was annoying.

"How do you know Iso," they said at the same time.

"She travels on my ship," Law told them. He had an idea of who these two were. Back when they met Sam and Brun they had mentioned something about a set of twins. This must be them.

"Really now,"

"That's why she came willingly to a winter island."

But Iso doesn't really like humans,"

"That's right. She must like this guy."

"Just answer my question," Law's eyebrow was twitching in irritation.

"I'm Rue," the one on the left told Law.

"No I'm Rue your Rye," the one on the right said.

"Oh I guess you're right,"

"Anyway back to the bear," Law took that moment to drop the two dragons on the ground and they landed lightly on their feet like it was no big deal.

"Can we have him since you know Iso?"

"No Bepo is mine," Law glared at them, "where is Iso?"

"Oh hot spring,"

"Up there," they turned to point the way and as they did the side of the mountain exploded. They all stared in stunned silence for a moment before the twins yelled.

"Iso!" they twins took off running with Law and Bepo right behind them.

XXX

Iso was enjoying herself. She was enveloped in warm almost boiling water just how she liked it. The dragon had to get out though the twins should be back soon and she didn't feel like giving them a show.

Rising from the water she grabbed her cape to use it as a towel. She quickly donned the rest of her clothes because even if it was warm the outside was not and you never know when you would have to evacuate a cave.

A scuff outside the cave had Iso looking up from wrapping her coat around her body.

"Rue, Rye is that you," she went over to the crack in the wall. They would need some help to get their kill through the entrance. A click on the stone was the only warning Iso got before she was blown back by a grenade thrown through the cave entrance.

Iso tried to protect her head and neck the best she could. The dragon landed in the back of the cave somewhere by the spring guessing from the water that splashed over her soaking her clothes. The sound of armor clanging over itself and the drawing of weapons told Iso that she was surrounded.

The storm dragon brought her arms down and pushed her way out of the pile of rubble she had been buried in.

"Looky here boys seems our info was wrong. Its not a pair of ice dragons but a storm dragon holed up out of the cold," one of the many men that surrounded Iso called out. They were all dressed in a mix of metal and leather armor and sported a verity of weapons. On each of their chests was a painted crest of a horned dragon skull.

"Dragon hunters," Iso spat, "what the hell are you doing here?'

"Lookin for a pay day, with a little revenge mixed in," the man said.

"Yeah those ice dragons froze our base," someone yelled. So that's why the twins were hiding out they had attacked the dragon hunters base.

"Good for them," Iso smirked.

"Yeah well now we'll just bag you and go huntin for them other two," the first man said.

"To bad for you. You're messing with the wrong dragon," she drew her ever present swords. She slashed her swords out creating two flashes of lightening. She didn't think it would hurt anyone, any dragon hunter who wanted to live protected himself against dragon magic, but it created a nice distraction.

The dragon slid through the closes group of men killing several before anyone noticed. She dodged a spear thrust, cut off the head of the spear and disemboweled its wielder as she went by. Iso caught a whip on her arm letting it wrap around the limb before pulling its user close and punching him out.

"Stop her!" someone was yelling but Iso wasn't to be stopped she flowed and danced killing in her wake any who crossed her.

When she did come to a stop again there were only a few men left. Two of them sporting injuries while the other was the leader who was unharmed.

"W-who are you," the leader stammered.

"I am Isodellaco, one of the nine," she growled, "and far out of your league."

The men scrambled back away from her at her declaration, "leave now before I decide to kill you too."

The hunters turned tail and ran from the battle ground. Iso scowled at their retreating figures. Dragon hunters were only ever brave in a group.

Once she was sure they were gone Iso sheathed her swords and wrapped her arms around her body. She was once again cold and now she was also wet not a good combination. The dragon shivered as she walked out of the now much larger cave entrance and into the night. She needed to find the twins or get somewhere warm. Either one would do.

XXX

Law and Bepo came to a stop behind the twins. They had stopped just within the tree line. Ahead of them was a smoking crater in the side of the mountain. They watched as three men scrambled out of the hole and ran toward the coast.

"Those were hunters,"

"Where's Iso," the twins ran toward the crater. Law and Bepo followed at a slower pace. They couldn't jump over the rubble strewn area like the dragons could.

Iso stumbled out of the rubble, her arms wrapped around her trying to keep in what heat she could. She was bare foot and soaking wet.

"Iso are you alright," Law asked. Rue stayed with them while Rye went to investigate the remains of the cave.

"I'm f-fucking f-freezing," Iso shivered.

"Bepo come here and take her," the bear had a much higher body temperature then a human. They tucked Iso into Bepo's orange jumpsuit.

"Let's get her back to the ship," Law turned to call the two white dragons. The one that was still with them was starring off into space.

"Wholly shit Iso, we knew you were strong but wholly shit," Rue said looking at Iso tucked in the bears jump suit.

"They shouldn't have pissed me off," Iso grumbled.

"What is it," Law asked.

"There's like twenty dead dragon hunters up there," he pointed up to where his brother had disappeared.

That must have been those men who had run away. Law didn't like the sound of dragon hunters it made him want to keep his dragon closer to him now more than ever. Now he just needed to get her warmed up and over whatever it was that had upset her.

XXX

They returned to the ship by passing the small town altogether. If Iso needed medical attention they would need the tools on the ship so Law just went straight to the sub. The storm dragon was comatose by the time they arrived. Bepo's extra body heat could only do so much for the dragon that had already lost so much heat. Law rushed her straight to his personal bathroom and got her into the shower.

Law stood there under the hot water spray in only his wet jeans holding up a limp dragon when she started to come around. Iso wrapped her arms around his shoulders and buried her nose in his neck. A deep rumbling vibrated Law's whole body and the pirate captain realized that she was purring.

"Iso, Iso," Law called, "are you back with me?"

She just groaned and snuggled deeper into him. Iso must be warm enough Law thought. He turned off the water and carried her to the counter where he set her down. After he untangled himself from her the dark haired man only stepped back when he was certain that she wasn't going to topple over.

The dragon swayed back and forth but stayed put. Law went into his bedroom which was insanely hot now that he had turned the heat all the way up. He quickly changed out of his wet clothes and grabbed something dry for Iso to wear.

The captain went back to his dragon setting down the clothes and taking up a towel to dry her off. When he was done drying her which took a while since the dragon had hair that hung almost to her calves Law helped her to change out of her wet clothes. He then picked her up and tucked her into his bed and crawled in with her. Iso was asleep before her head hit the pillow but law wasn't worried so much now that she was warmed up.

XXX

It was sometime later, Law was reading a book in bed and Iso was using his stomach as a pillow under the covers. He didn't think that the dragon would be a snuggler but it would seem he was wrong.

There was a knock at the door and when Law told them and when Law told them to enter Elias opened it. The captain could see the two twin dragons peeking around him the best they could. When Law didn't appear hostile they slipped into the room to explore. They had already explored the rest of the ship much to the displeasure of the crew.

"Is everything fine captain. Does Iso need anything," Elias asked.

"Have the cook send up some broth in a little while," Law ordered. Iso really didn't need anything but rest. He glared at the twins as the continued to stick their noses into everything.

"Do you two mind," he didn't want to move since that would disturb Iso.

"No,"

"How's Iso," they asked.

"She's sleeping," Law told them but one of them was already lifting the blankets to reveal a very much awake dragon. Iso shot her hand out and grabbed the shirt of the twin who moved the blanket and bounced his head off the side of the bed.

The humans watched in fascination as both of the twins reach up to their noses and complained in pain. Law had come to the conclusion that there was something odd about the two young dragons.

Iso pointed at the twins, "What have I told you about being a nuisance?"

"Not to be," they said.

"Good. Now you are going to listen to Elias, and if you misbehave he will tell me. Got it," the blue haired girl informed them.

"Yes Iso,"

"We'll behave," they looked like kicked puppies but is ignored them in favor of lying back down and getting comfortable again. Elias dragged the twins out the door closing it behind him. Law looked down at Iso. She seemed to be content to stay where she was sprawled across his chest.

"Why do they do that," Law asked staring at the closed door.

"Do what,"

"Speak in turn, react to the others stimuli," Law elaborated.

"Oh, have you ever heard of twin telepathy," Iso asked.

"I have read about the theory," the captain told her.

"Sometime they are wrapped so tightly together it's like they are one mind with two bodies," Iso explained.

"Does this happen often with dragons," Law's doctor was coming out. With humans twin telepathy was just a theory some might experience shared sensation, but Rue and Rye were so much more.

"I wouldn't know. Twins for dragons are rare and most don't ever survive. Rue and Rye are the only ones that I know of that have lived this long," she told him.

"I wonder why that is," Law mused mostly to himself but Iso still answered him.

"Something to do with how we reproduce," Iso snuggled into his chest some more and just laid there.

"How are you feeling," he asked.

"Tired, soar," Iso mumbled, "Thank you."

"For what?" Law cocked his head to the side.

"For taking care of me," she yawned.

"Well it was partially my fault you were exposed to the cold. Though you could have told me," Law brushed back some of her hair that was in her face.

"I wasn't talking to you and I don't tell anybody about my weakness to cold," she said.

"You told Ryan,"

"Ryan guessed."

"Are you still mad at me," Law asked at last.

"No, I was never really mad at you, I just had things to think about," the dragon admitted.

"You had to think about something so much that you avoided me," Law said, "what were you thinking about?"

"I'm not telling, you have to figure it out for yourself." Iso stretched. If she told him now the dragon figured that she had a 50/50 shot of Law rejecting the idea that they were mates or accepting it. Iso wanted better odds then that when so much was on the line.

 **A/N I just wanted to thank everyone who has been reviewing lately. This chapter is extra-long I thought about splitting it into two but there wasn't really a good place to split it at so I left it the way it is.**

 **I also introduced a two new characters and for anyone that is confused they do talk in turn and finish each other's thoughts so whenever you see two lines of conversation when the twins are talking that is what is happening.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Oh look a wild update has appeared.**

Iso walked the halls of the sub. It had been a few days since she had almost froze to death and she was almost back to feeling better. She still kept herself wrapped in a loose robe that hung to her knees and her hair was left out of its usual braid, she had been too sore to put it back up.

They were a few days away from the winter island and it was once again warm enough for Iso to go outside. The sub was currently sailing towards Sabaody Island and she needed the twins to take a message to the rest of her legion. That was why the storm dragon was moving around the halls. She was looking for the two trouble makers.

It was difficult to track them they had moved around the sub enough that their scent trails all blended together. Iso did eventually track them to the infirmary. The two whit haired dragons were sitting on one of the examination table stripped down to just there boxers and Law was facing them with a folder in his hand.

"What's going on," Iso glared at the twins. They had to be up to no good. They were always up to no good.

"Hi Iso,"

"Law's giving us a physical," they smiled at her.

"Right, let me see that," Iso leaned against the counter next to Law.

"Iso, medical records are privileged information," Law explained closing the folder.

"And I'm technically there guardian," Iso snatched the folder and started to read. Almost immediately her eye twitched. The dragon snapped the folder shut and hit Rue over the head and they both complained. "If Law is going to take the time to give you a physical you're going to tell the truth."

Law took the folder back opening it, "What did I get wrong?"

"Their age," she pointed, "They are only 103 years old not 206."

"But together we are," they protested and Iso glared at them.

"Alright," Law ignored them and changed his file.

"And in their true form Rue is 15 feet long with a 28 foot wing span and Rye is 15 and a half feet with a 28 foot wing span," she corrected most everything else was Law's own observations.

"Hey I've grown Iso," Rue complained.

"No you haven't," Rye pushed his twin.

Law glared at the twins as they roughed housed in his infirmary.

"Hey get your asses out of here if you're going to fight," Iso pointed to the door.

"Yes Iso,"

"Has the sub surfaced yet," they asked.

"Yes now go I'll be up shortly," she crossed her arms waiting for them to leave.

"You're sending them off," Law asked as he put the twins chart away along with the others.

"Just for a short time," Iso said, "I want to talk to my legion before we head to the new world."

Law raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything about it instead he asked, "How long until we reach Sabaody?"

"At least a week, the archipelago is harder to find then normal islands since it doesn't have a magnetic field," she explained.

"I'm sure you'll get us there no problem," Law told her. He opened the door to the infirmary and let Iso go through first. They walked together up to the deck of the ship where Rue and Rye were playing. They were currently out on the ocean surface skating around on the water they were freezing. As soon as they saw Iso they jumped back onto the ship and landed without a sound.

"Iso! What do you need us to do?" they asked.

"I need you to take these to the others," she handed them several letters, "and then meet me on Sabaody with everyone else."

"Right."

"You can count on us," they saluted the storm dragon before taking the letters. The twins jumped into the air and circled over the sub as they shifted to their true forms. As they flew off they quickly vanished from sight.

"You're meeting them on Sabaody," Law asked.

"Yes is that going to be a problem," Iso looked at him.

"No, I'm just curious, that's all," he smirked.

"That's right you haven't met everyone yet," she said as they leaned against the railing. The sun felt good on Iso's back. "Well you should get along quite well with Illian. He's a doctor and very much like you."

Law felt a pang of jealousy race through him. He didn't know that Iso had another doctor close to her, "Perhaps I will have to pick his brain." And make sure it was clear that he was Iso's primary doctor.

"Tsurin however is going to hate you," Iso smiled as they got more comfortable. They weren't in any hurry.

"Hate, that's a strong word," he commented. The captain hoped that nothing went wrong when he meets this dragon, but he would make a plan just in case.

"Yeah well he doesn't like any males who enter my life," she explained.

Law raised an eyebrow, "Is he your boyfriend Iso-ya." For some reason that thought bothered him.

The dragon started to laugh," no, no we grew up together. And he's taken it upon himself to act as my older brother since I'm an only child."

"That's probably worse than him being your boyfriend," the captain commented.

Iso nodded. She would have to talk to Tsurin if she was to mate with Law. The older dragon might take issue with it and she didn't want anyone to get hurt.

"Coo-coo," the sound of a bird made the two of them look up. The news coo was flapping its way toward them.

"Excellent the newspaper is here," Law stood and paid for a paper and took it from the bird. He looked at the headlines as he sat back down next to Iso.

"Anything interesting," the dragon asked.

"It would seem that we made it into the headlines. They are blaming us for the destruction of several pirate crews on Cantogo and the temporary imprisonment of the princess," Law surmised.

"Did they raise your bounty," Iso asked resting her chin on his shoulder to be able the words printed on the paper. Law flipped through the pages to where the newly issued bounty posers were.

"It would seem that they did 200,000,000," he smirked as he showed the dragon.

Iso whistled in response, "Impressive."

XXX

It was about a week and a half later and Iso was in the navigation room with Bepo. They were carefully weaving in between the roots of the giant mangrove trees trying to get to the grove that they had decided to dock at.

The dragon was sitting in the captain's chair examining the bounty posters of the rooky pirates that had been dubbed the supernova. Law waked through the door and frowned at the dragon.

"You're in my chair," he spun the dragon so she was facing him.

"Yup," Iso glanced at him before going back to what she was doing.

The captain glared at her but the dragon wasn't looking at him to see it. He sighed before reaching down and scooping the blue haired girl into his arms.

"Hey what the hell," the startled dragon yelled.

Law just sat down in his chair with Iso sprawled across his lap, "You were in the way."

Iso looked at Law but had to quickly hide her face in the papers in her hand. She didn't want Law to see that his proximity was making her blush.

"I'll just get out of the way," she tried to roll off of him but the dark haired man wouldn't let her.

"Where are we Bepo," Law asked the bear who had been silent through the exchange.

"Almost there captain," the bear looked back at them, "I think you broke her captain."

Law just smirked. He rather liked having Iso on his lap. It reminded him of the night she spent in his bed even though he told himself it was for medical reasons, to return her body temperature to normal. He still liked it.

"I have to go get ready," Iso said all of a sudden.

"What else do you need," Law asked. She had her weapons on her already. She was rarely without them.

"I want to go to the dragon outpost on the archipelago and I can't go as myself," she told him.

"Alright, I don't suppose I can go with you," he disliked the thought of her being out of sight so soon after her difficulties on the last island.

"Sorry it would stand out to much," the blue haired girl stood up from his arms and left the navigation room.

XXX

Law waited on the deck of the sub he wanted to see his dragon off before he left. Right now he was lost in thought. He had to admit he had to admit he had been acting out of character lately and it only seemed to be happening around the dragon. The scene that had happened in the navigation room earlier was a prime example that would never have happened a few months ago. The captain determined that he needed to seriously contemplate how his actions regarding the dragon had changed.

"Holy shit," Ryan swearing behind him drew him out of his thoughts, Law turned to see what had caused the reaction.

Iso was standing on deck. She had changed her clothes. She was wearing a sleeve dress that was split up the side to reveal tight leggings and there was a hooded cloak around her shoulders. The most surprising part was her hair an eyes. They were no longer blue but a deep golden color.

"I like your normal look better," Law said before he could stop himself. He blamed it on his earlier thoughts.

"Thanks," Iso blushed, "It's just an illusion Sam taught me."

"I don't think anyone'll recognize you Iso," Ryan said and most the crew nodded.

"I should get going," the dragon said.

"Come meet us when you're done," Law told her.

Iso nodded, "I will."

She launched herself into the air and was quickly lost from sight among the mangrove trees.

XXX

Iso wove through the branches of the mangrove heading toward the dragon outpost that was built in the canopy of grove 32. The humans below didn't even notice the flying woman overhead.

The disguised storm dragon landed on the platform that jutted out into the air. Her boots thumped on the wooden boards. Iso pulled her hood up over her hair that was in a knot at the back of her head. It would help preserve the illusion. At a glance she would appear as a gold dragon, but if someone looked closer they might see the illusion covering her true nature.

Iso walked into the large market that took up most of the outpost looking for an ideal place to start on gathering information. A general store that didn't seem to busy caught her eye. The store keeper greeted her as she entered.

"Greetings miss and welcome to my humble store may I help you with anything," he asked.

"Yes perhaps you can help me with this," she handed him a list, "And perhaps some news. Before I move onto the Cloudy City."

"Well you might have some difficulty with that. Travel to the Cloudy City has been restricted," the storekeeper moved around gathering the things from her list.

"Really I was hoping to further the research I've been doing in the wilds, but I suppose it will have to wait," Iso lied.

"If you been in the wilds then you wouldn't know. But no one knows what is going on in the Cloudy City. All the tales from the refugees seems to differ and Lady Arianna hasn't been heard from," the store keeper told her.

"That is not good. One of the nine missing," Arianna was the gold dragon who watched over the Cloudy City much like how Iso was supposed to look after the Shining City.

"She's not the only one missing. Lady Isodellaco of the Shining city hasn't been seen in months not since her Father came out of retirement," he told her.

Iso resisted the urge to frown that wasn't what happened at all. It seemed the attack on her city was being kept quiet but that just made her job more difficult and easier at the same time. It made it easier because no one would really be looking for her since it appeared she only lost her job to her Father. But when she killed her target she wouldn't be able to justify her actions to the public.

"She's probably off pouting somewhere," Iso commented it wouldn't be the first time she vanished for a few years. She took her requested items from the shop keeper, thanked him and payed him with an added tip for the information.

After she left the store she wandered around the market listening in to the conversations going on. Arianna and Iso were mostly the main topic of discussion but she also learned a few other things. Those being that the Swampy City from the East Blue was undergoing a draught which would be bad for many of the specialized plants that grew only there. The Smokey city of the South Blue was embroiled in another civil war their member of the nine who was supposed to watch over them had yet to take a side.

Iso's mood became more grim the more she heard. The dragon cities were descending into turmoil and the storm dragon surmised that no matter the outcome the end result would leave them with a much different dragon society then what they had started with. Dragons changed slowly they were a long lived race. The longest known in the world. A full grown dragon changed little in their lifetime and dragon society reflected that. This meant that the rest of the world raced by them while they stayed the same but every now and then the dragons needed to catch up. Iso had read about pivotal points in dragon history and she was starting to see the signs of it happening again.

With a sigh she looked at the sky and estimated the time. The blue haired girl needed to meet back up with Law enough time had passed and she had accomplished her goal. Iso made her way back to the landing deck and took off. She wove through the trees back to the ship. The dragon needed to remove her disguise and store her purchases before going back on the island.

Iso landed on deck and waved to the watchman who had been left behind. She went to her room and tossed her bag on her bed. She would take care of it later. Halfway through taking off her dress the dragon stopped and frowned in her mirror. She couldn't go out onto the island like she normally dressed she might be recognized. Her hair and eyes could be passed off as human but her wings were a dead giveaway of who Iso was.

The blue haired girl stuck her head out her door to make sure the coast was clear. She was fairly certain she was the only one in the sub but it never hurt to look. Iso rushed across the hall into Law's office and then into his bedroom. Once there she grabbed one of his sweatshirts and pulled it on. It was one of his black hoodies with his jolly roger on the back and fur lined the hood. Iso left on her tight black leggings and knee high black boots. With her weapons around her waist Iso looked like just another member of the heart pirates.

She waved again to the watch man as she left the ship. Once on the island Law's scent was easily tracked. He was so close to her now that Iso would always be able to find him no matter where he was. Iso wove through the crowds on the island floor like a person who had been doing it her whole life.

"Hey you hot stuff," someone called and Iso could feel their eyes on her back so she could only assume they were talking to her. The dragon paused and turned around. She found herself face to face with one Eustass Kid. Well more like face to chest he stood more than half a foot taller than Iso. "You're pretty sexy for being a part of that Trafalgar's crew."

Iso glared at the red head, but it didn't really seem to faze him. He was surrounded by his crew minus his first mate Killer and the dragon assumed he was elsewhere on the island.

"Why don't you dump that captain of yours and come join my crew. You'd certainly make the ship look a lot better," he asked. And his crew laughed around him.

Iso frowned. Why was Eustass Kid talking to her of all people? He wouldn't know who she was. She didn't have a bounty and her name hadn't ever been in the paper. The dragon should have appeared as just another member of the heart pirates.

"I'm sorry but it appears that whoever broke your nose scrambled your brains. I have a crew and I'm not going to abandon them just because a muscle bound dumbass finds me attractive," Iso growled at him in the hopes that he would get mad and give up his unwanted pursuit. She had a mate all other males were irrelevant.

Instead of growling and throwing a fit like she had hoped kid's face stretched into a demented smile, "you're fierce. I like that."

He tried to put an arm around her supposedly to lead her away, but Iso grabbed his arm. She ground the bones in his wrist together.

"I thought I made it clear. Back the fuck off," Iso snarled now truly pissed.

"Whole fuck you're strong," kid finally managed to pull his arm free. He cradled his sore arm with his good one, "Now I really want you to join my crew."

Iso gave him a look that clearly said you have got to be fucking kidding me, "I'm leaving," she decided and turned to go. Kid reached out to stop her but Iso vanished before his eyes.

"Where she go," Kid looked around but didn't see the chick that was going to join his crew.

"I don't know master Kid," Heat, one of his crewman with light blue dreadlocks said.

"Go find Killer," he ordered, "And track down her captain. If she's apart of Trafalgar's crew chances are she'll be with him."

 **Well it really has been a long time since I update and I have to say it's probably not going to get much better. I've started a new job and its full time so I can only write on my days off so that is going to be limited to the weekends.**


	14. Chapter 14

Iso watched kid order his crew around from her perch on top of a nearby building. Grateful that her abilities let her move so fast for brief amounts of time. The dragon waited until the Kid pirates left the area before jumping down to the ground level.

She continued on her way now taking care to avoid other pirate crews. Iso turned down a street and she could see the backs of her crew surrounding Law who was sitting on a crate. X Drake was standing in front of him and Law was talking to the pirate.

Iso heard the end of Law's taunt to the other pirate as she got closer. Once the other pirate captain was gone Iso made herself known. "You know they'll never like you if you tease them all the time."

Law turned to face her and he smirked when he saw she was wearing his clothes again, "I don't need them to like me. Quite the opposite in fact."

"Be careful with that. Hate can cause people to do strange things," Iso advised.

Law frowned his dragon wasn't being her usual snarky sarcastic self, "Did you take care of your errand."

Iso fell in beside Law as he led his crew to their next destination. "I'll tell you about it later."

She needed him to be aware of what was going on in her world so he could be prepared if any of it were to affect them.

Law watched Iso as she kept glancing around as if she was searching for something, "What's wrong Iso?"

"Nothing just had a run in with Eustass Kid earlier," Iso told him.

"That doesn't sound like nothing. What did he want," Law demanded. He didn't like the thought of another captain around his dragon.

"He wanted me to join his crew for some reason. I don't know why I mean he shouldn't have an idea of who I am," the blue haired girl ranted.

"Maybe he's attracted to you," Shachi said from behind them.

Iso turned around to look at the mechanic, "That's a stupid idea."

"I'll be sure to inform Eustass-ya of his stupidity when I tell him to back off from my crew," Law gave an impressive growl for a human

"Don't worry I already called him a dumbass, and insulted his face and intelligence," Iso said.

"Why would you do that Iso? Were you trying to piss him off," Ryan asked.

"Well that was my plan but it only seemed to encourage him," the dragon told them.

"Just let me deal with him Iso-ya," Law said. He did not look happy about this latest development.

Law and Iso walked in silence while the crew joked and laughed around them. Both of them were lost in thought. At one point Law took Iso's arm with his and brought her closer to him.

The captain was baffled by his need to keep Iso with him. When they had first struck there bargain when they met Iso had made it clear she would leave whenever she felt like it and Law had agreed. He was starting to regret that agreement since it meant that he would once again be without her and he didn't want to go back to that.

The dragon's thoughts were a lot less pessimistic then the man holding her hand. She saw his possessiveness as a good sign. It meant to her that her chosen mate was wanting to fight off rival males that threatened to take her away from him.

They finally arrived at their destination. Before them loomed the human auction house in all its vile glory. Streams of rich humans poured into the large building all with the hope to purchase another of their kind to do their dirty work.

A look of disgust crossed Iso's face, "Law why are we here?" she hoped that he wasn't going to make a purchase. If he was then they were going to have a serious issue. To dragons slavery was a dishonorable act and dealt with as such. Not that Iso would do anything here she didn't care much for humans outside of the ones she befriended.

"For curiosity," Law answered her and elaborated when the dragon gave him a look, "I have no intentions of making a purchase."

Iso visibly relaxed after that, "Good. Some of you humans keep dishonorable practices."

"I know," was all Law said as he lead a select few of his crew into the building, leaving the rest outside. They sat part way down the amphitheater style seating and all the nearby spectators quickly went to sit elsewhere.

"Seems your reputation precedes you," Iso laughed at the fear Law caused.

"It would seem," the male puffed up slightly with pride at his accomplishment.

It wasn't long before another wave of fear swept through the building. Iso growled in annoyance as the grating voice of Eustass Kid drifted down to them.

"There's a familiar face," they heard, "From the north blue Trafalgar Law with the 200,000,000 bounty. And that blue haired chick."

Law turned in his seat and flicked the red head off. Iso snorted a laugh next to him, "Now he's not going to like you."

"Good," Law said smugly, "I don't want him to like me."

Iso stopped paying attention to the exchange between Kid and Law and focused on the stage or more specifically what was going on behind. It would seem that there was a slight commotion behind the stage as the latest merchandize was brought in.

Law noticed Iso's focus on the stage and left the watching to her while he pretended to be bored and half asleep.

"Something big is going to happen," Iso said after several groups of slaves had already been sold off.

"Why do you say that Iso-ya," Law asked cracking an eye open.

"The Straw Hats are outside and they don't sound happy," she informed him.

Law frowned slightly in thought, "For now we sit on the sidelines and observe. Keep me informed of whats going on outside."

"Of course," she leaned back into his side, and Law wrapped his arm around her shoulders. The captain was glad that she had forsaken her normal clothes in favor of his hoodie it hid her wings from those that would recognize her as not being human. That meant she was less likely to be harassed. Not that he thought any slavers would manage to take her away.

Law watched warily as another Tenryuubito was shown to his seat. Just as a pirate captain was brought onto the stage.

The attention of everyone in the auction house was brought to the stage when the captain being auctioned off bit his tongue. The curtains were swiftly closed as auction house employee's removed the freshly made corpse.

"Why would someone do something like that," Bepo asked. He just couldn't understand.

"Death is the last escape we all have Bepo," Iso explained, "when all else fail death will be successful."

Law nodded next to her. He had seen familiar sights before and he wondered if Iso had as well.

"Sorry"

"Don't apologize Bepo," Iso smirked at him. The dragon listened to what was going on around her, "seems the trouble is about to start."

"A mermaid," Law said as they wheeled a large cloth covered bowl onto the stage. It was lite up from behind to show the shadow of its contents, "that's what the straw hats are after."

"Seems they know her," Iso told him.

The cloth was pulled away revealing a young green haired mermaid. She was chained around her wrists and neck. The girl pounded at the glass and her lips were moving but no sound escaped.

Not even a minute went by after the mermaid was reveal and the late arriving Tenryuubito stood up, "500 million beri!"

The building was filled with disappointed murmurs. No one dared bid against the Tenryuubito for fear of retribution.

Iso paid closer attention to the commotion going on outside of the building then the auction going on around her. The marines were here they were going to have to fight their way out.

Everyone turned and looked as a crash sounded at the back of the room. There was now a large hole in the wall and Straw Hat Luffy and his first mate were standing in the rubble. Straw hat called out when he saw the mermaid on stage and stated to run to her. One of his companions tried to stop him only to reveal himself as a fishman. The crowd murmured in surprise and disgust.

As Luffy continued to charge the stage the people around the fishman started to panic. A bang rang and the fishman collapsed. Standing over him was Saint Carlos the same mane who bought the mermaid. Luffy stopped his charge and turned to face his friend and his attacker. Who was celebrating over the body of the fishman.

"That's a dangerous look," Iso said from her seat.

Luffy knelt by his friend to check on him. Luckily he was still alive. He stood and continued up the stairs.

"I think your earlier assessment was correct Iso-ya this is not going to end well," Law said.

Luffy punched the Tenryuubito.

He flew back plowing through several rows of seats before coming to a stop near the top. The whole building was stunned to silence.

"Sorry guys," Luffy apologized to his crew, "I heard if you hit one of them guys they'll call an admiral."

His crew didn't seem to concern instead they became serious and split off into groups to take care of what was needed.

The other Tenryuubito started to react the eldest raised his rifle against Luffy, but his cook was faster he kicked the rifle from the man's hands before attacking the guards.

The crowd was now trying to escape and the guards were trying to get in. the rest of the straw hats arrived and Luffy ordered his crew to hurry to escape.

"The marines are already her Straw hat," Law spoke up, "They've been here since the auction started."

"Eh who are you and what's with the bear," Luffy turned to them.

"Luffy that's Trafalgar Law. He's a pirate," robin informed her captain.

"You've shown me something interesting, Straw hat," Law smirked. While Law was talking to Luffy the last of the Tenryuubito was attempting to shoot the mermaid. Just as she was about to pull the trigger a force wave that made a lesser person want to lie down and collapse knocked the female Tenryuubito unconscious.

Iso's eyes widened in recognition. As an old man in a long coat strolled onto the stage drinking from a flask.

"Hm looks like I'm getting a lot of attention," the old man laughed. The guards were baffled as to how the old man and giant had gotten free from his cage.

The fishman recognized the old man. As he looked around taking in the situation. Another blast of force rocked through the building this on much larger. It knocked all the remaining guards' unconscious leaving only pirates.

"That straw hat suits a fearless man," he said, "I've been waiting to meet you Monkey D Luffy."

As Luffy stood stunned the old man walked over to Keimi. He took a hold of her bomb collar and started to pull. The other straw hats started to panic but the old man directed the explosion away from the mermaid.

The straw hats were all trying to figure out who the old man was when Iso spoke up, "Silvers Rayleigh you got old." She appeared on the stage a few feet from the man.

"Iso you haven't changed a bit," Rayleigh said, "On this island I'm just Ray the coater."

Iso snorted as she gave him a quick hug.

"I need to talk to you," he whispered in her ear.

Iso watched Rayleigh with a curious look. The older man went to Hatchi who was being tended to by the straw hats doctor. The dragon was about to demand an explanation from the old pirate when they were all interrupted by a loud voice yelling over a loud speaker.

"Attention pirates, release the RosWald Family at once. An admiral will soon arrive on scene."

The larger building was filled with murmurs as everyone tried to make a plan to escape.

"We'll do ya 'all a favor and deal with the guys out front," Eustass Kid yelled as he exited the auction house. His words did not go over well with the other two captains present. They raced after the red head not wanting to be left behind and lose face.

Iso turned her attention back to Rayleigh he was sending the fishman and mermaid with the other freed slaves.

"Rayleigh," she called as she approached him, "What did you need to say to me?"

"We'll talk later," he said as he turned to face her.

"The way things are going there's not going to be a later," Iso told him a large crash caused them to look behind them.

"You might be right," Rayleigh conceded, "I need a favor."

"What kind of favor?"

"I need you to stop the execution of Fire Fist Ace."

Iso blinked several times before responding, "Why the hell would I do that? Dragons don't interfere with humans you know that," the dragon started to walk away.

"Do you know who he is," Rayleigh asked. Iso stopped and turned, "No why would I?"

"He's the son of Portgas D Rouge," Rayleigh told her.

A look of stunned revelation crossed Iso's face, "Rouge but…why did no one ever tell me!"

"That was Roger's decision," Rayleigh admitted, "We all abided by his decision on how to hide Ace and Rouge away as it was his last request as a captain and a man. He was executed not long after."

"A selfish decision if ever there was one," Iso growled, "I could have protected the both of them far better than anything you could have arranged!"

"I know that and I won't make any excuses, but you can protect Ace now. If you don't do it for me do it for Rouge," the old man pleaded.

The dragon closed her eyes and sighed. She had known Rogue years ago before the woman had ever met Roger. The woman had save Iso's life and now the dragon owed her a debt.

"For Rouge," the blue haired girl said before turning and leaving the old pirate behind.

XXX

Iso emerged from the auction into chaos. The marines were temporally routed, but they had the grove barricaded. The heart pirates were gathered around their captain and they were joined by a giant of a man.

"There you are," Law growled he was about to send some men to find her, "we need to get out of here now."

The admiral was on the island and making his way toward their position. They had to disappear before he got there. Iso brushed past Law not bothering to give him a glance.

"Holy shit. She's pissed," Ryan muttered.

"But why," Elias asked.

The dragon approached the marine barricade that was preventing the pirates for leaving. The soldiers started to fire at her. Iso effortlessly dodged the bullets and when she was close enough she raised her arm and blasted apart the defense with several well placed bolts of lightning.

Law came to stand next to Iso. He flashed her a look of concern but she ignored him.

"Let's go," Iso waked off in the direction of the sub.

They made it through several groves before they ran into trouble. Eustass Kid and his crew were engaged in a battle with a tall man dressed in a jacket divided by a cross and a bucket hat.

"That's the warlord Bartholomew Kuma," Law said from where he stood concealed next to Iso.

"No it's not," Iso countered, "It smells strongly of a metal I don't know and has no heart beat."

"It's a fake," Law concluded and was confirmed when the fake launched a laser attack at kid who just barely managed to dodge.

"We need to get to that bridge," Iso pointed across the battlefield.

Law studied the battle in front of him trying to devise the best strategy, "Iso and I will engage the enemy the rest of you make your way to the ship."

"Right," the crew all nodded.

Iso jumped into action. Kid was forming a ball of metal to throw at the metal man in front of him. The dragon landed on top of the metal ball and jumped again.

"What the hell," kid yelled.

When her momentum carried her over the robot Iso unleashed her attack.

"Lightning Bomb!" an orb of electricity engulfed the metal man and the field lite up in a flash of light. The air cleared and it revealed the robot unharmed, and it was targeting its laser at Iso.

"Shit," the blue haired girl swore as the beam of light fired off. There was a pull behind her navel and Iso appeared next to Law. She opened her eyes, "Thanks."

"Be more careful," he growled at her the dragon nodded and they moved forward together.

"What the fuck are you doing here," kid demanded as he landed with a skid next to them.

"Passing through," Law smirked at the rival captain.

"Tch, what about you babe you joining my crew yet," kid smirked at Iso.

"No," she deadpanned before turning and attacking at the same time as Law.

Their attack was as ineffective as before. It only caused the robot to attack again scattering Iso, Law and Kid.

"Make another metal ball," Iso yelled at kid. Who had landed near her.

"Don't give me orders bitch," he yelled back.

"Just do it," Iso jump back from another attack. Kid growled but did gather metal for another bal. when it was big enough Iso infused it with her lightning. The combination of the two powers launched the attack at the robot. The ball of metal and lightning hit the back of the metal man and only managed to scratch it.

"This isn't working," Law had barely dodged the attack. The dark haired man launched several attacks with his devil fruit that should have left the robot in pieces but didn't even scratch it. The robot must have been infused with sea stone

The robot turned to face Law. His attack had drawn its attention. The robot leaned forward revealing a larger laser canon in its mouth. The heart pirate captain started to run for cover. The robot tracked him and fired.

"No!" Iso screamed. She vanished from where she had been standing next to Kid.

Law hit the ground hoping the blast would go over his head. After a few moments when he wasn't descended into a world of pain he dared to open his eyes. He found himself surrounded by blue. Law stood and steadied himself with a hand on a scale larger than his head. Above him stretched a thin blue membrane that filtered all of the incoming light into a light blue color.

Iso unwound herself from around Law. Her shoulder was smoking from where the laser had hit but was undamaged. She pushed Law with her front paw so that he was shielded behind the bulk of her body.

"Iso we need to get out of here," Law yelled. None of their attacks worked against their opponent it was time for them to retreat. The dragon ignored him.

She sucked in a breath of air. Her jaws parted and a great blast of lightning erupted from her maw. It struck the robot in the shoulder severing the arm from its body. The metal man easily ignored the injury and jumped to the side trying to get a better shot.

The dragon crouched down and pounced on the robot. She clamped her jaws around the robots head. Iso shook her head and the sound of tearing metal filled the clearing. The dragon tossed her head to the side and threw the remains of the robot into the giant mangrove tree that made up the grove they were in.

"Iso-ya we need to get out of here," Law called to her. They had wasted enough time fighting the robot. The dragon bounded over to him.

"The crew should be at the ship," Iso rumbled out.

"Then let's get out of here," Law said. The blue dragon snaked her head out and grasped the back of Law's hoodie. She picked him up and placed him on her back just in front of her wings. Law yelped in indignation at his treatment from the dragon.

"Hold on," Iso unfurled her wings and pushed herself into the air.

"Did you see that Killer. She's a dragon," Kid said in amazement.

"Yes captain," the stoic first mate said.

"I want one."

XXX

It took only a few moments to reach the sub by air. The crew was scrambling about trying to get ready to leave. Iso landed a short way from the gang plank. Law jumped from her back and the light of her transformation engulfed her.

"Prepare to submerge," Law ordered.

"Wait," Iso called.

"What," Law turned to face her.

"I'm not staying," Iso told him.

"You're not," Law asked, "What's going on Iso?"

"There's something I have to go take care of," Iso said.

"Right now, we are in the middle of a situation," Law demanded.

"There's a debt that I owe. Its repayment has been requested," the dragon informed him.

"This has to do with Silvers Rayleigh doesn't it. You owe him a debt," the captain said.

"No he called it in on behalf of someone who's been dead for quite some time," Iso walked past him into the sub.

Law stared at the spot where Iso disappeared. Every instinct in him was screaming at him to go and stop her from leaving but he didn't. Their original agreement was that Iso could leave whenever she wanted. The dragon reappeared carrying a crate over her shoulder.

Law caught her eye, "You'll come back."

Iso stopped, "Of course."

And then she was gone.


	15. Chapter 15

Iso was high in the branches of one of the mangrove trees. Her currant roost was a thick branch that could easily hold several houses. She was sitting on the crate she had taken from the sub. The dragon had her head rested in her hands.

Ace's execution was less than a day away and Iso's legion had yet to arrive. If they didn't get here soon she would have to go up against the marines by herself and even the powerful storm dragon wouldn't be able to survive on her own. A feat she was not looking forward to.

Iso opened her eyes as the distant sound of wings thumping against the air reached her ears. Rue and Rye were winging toward her at top speed. The rest of her legion was not far behind them. She gave the twins a cursory hug while looking toward Brun.

The strained expression on Iso's face was enough to set off warning bell's in Brun's head, "what's wrong?"

The black and green haired males behind Brun exchanged looks. It wasn't often that Iso appeared as worried as she did.

"I need your help," Iso said giving each of them a pleading look.

"Well it must be serious if you are pulling that thing out of storage," Sam said eyeing the chest that Iso had with her. The gold dragon remembered helping Iso seal the sword that the crate contained away so that Iso could be free of it.

"there is a debt that I owe and its being called in post mortem. If I'm going to succeed in the task before me I'm going to need all the assets that I possess."

"what debt and what are we doing," Tsu'rin asked.

Iso looked at the black dragon, "You guys don't have to get involved if you don't want to. This is my problem."

"That's a crock of shit and you know it," Brun growled.

"We're your friends Iso we'd follow you anywhere," Sam smiled at her.

"I concur. So would you please enlighten us to the situation," Illian added.

Iso had to sit down. The sense of relief at her friends' words spread through her.

"Well we're stopping an execution."

xXx

Iso flew through the sky. Her legion flew in formation behind her. Brun and Sam flanked her. Illian and Tsu'rin were behind them and the twins brought up the rear. All of them were dressed for war. Fully armored and armed to the teeth. Iso, Brun, Illian and Tsu'rin were all wearing plate armor that matched their specific color. Iso also had a cloth covered sword strapped to her back.

The clouds concealed them from the battle below but that also meant they couldn't see what was going on below. By the sounds that reached them it was a fierce fight.

"Remember the plan," Iso yelled, "We secure the platform before making our way to whitebeard's ship."

"Right!"

With a slight tilt of her wings Iso slid through the clouds and hurtled toward the battle field below. The execution platform quickly came into view. The figures on the tall wooden structure were unaware of the approaching danger.

Iso used her momentum to swing around and kick Sengoku in the back. The fleet admiral was launched from the platform along with Garp and the two executioners.

The battle stilled at their appearance. Sengoku leapt to his feet ready to retake the platform and just kill the criminal now. But the figure that stood there made him pause. He knew her through political means. The world government was always trying to get the dragons to join their ranks but they always refused. Isodelleco was a prominent figure in the dragon hierarchy and her presence here confused him. Dragons did not usually interfere with human matters.

"Isodelleco, what are you doing here," the fleet admiral yelled.

"Sengoku, a displeasure as always," Iso's cocky smirk spread across her face.

"Answer the fleet admiral's question scum," Akainu growled from where he stood. The attention of all the marines and pirates were on the dragons. Just how Iso wanted it. The twins were busy getting ace out of his restraints and the man was obviously confused.

Iso crossed her arms and turned her attention toward the real dog, "I don't follow your orders human."

The admiral started to say something but Iso continued on speaking over him anyway.

"But I shall humor you anyway. I am here because I want to be here."

"Do not mock the marines scum," Akainu yelled at Iso.

The storm dragon hid a smirk when she heard the clunk of the chains hitting the wood.

"Call me scum one more time and you will see why it is your boss is still standing where he fell."

Akainu growled even more and launched himself at the platform. Iso hit him with a bolt of lightning square in the chest knocking him down. His landing created a massive crater.

"Holy shit," an unfamiliar voice said right behind Iso. She whipped around to find ace standing there.

"You need to stay under cover," Iso pushed him back and the rest of the legion surrounded them.

"Who the fuck are you," ace demanded.

"I am Iso that is all you need to know for now," Iso turned to face the marine force gathered before them. It would seem Sengoku was preparing the remaining two admirals and as many vice admirals as he could gather to attack the platform. Akainu was still embedded in the ground. No one was helping him for fear of being burned alive.

"It would seem that we have over stayed our welcome," Illian commented.

"Agreed, we make for whitebeard's ship. I'm on point. Brun and Sam behind me. Ace stay behind them. Illian and Tsu'rin to the sides. Rue and Rye you bring up the rear," Iso quickly put them in order.

"I can fight," ace protested. He didn't want to be stuck in the middle.

"Not today you don't," Iso gave him a meaningful look, "To many people are gunning toward you.

Ace huffed but backed down in the end. A small voice in the back of his head told him it would be a good idea.

They jumped from the platform and right into the thick of marines below. The roar of battle engulfed them, but the battle cry of the pirates could be heard over the noise.

Iso and her legion moved as a cohesive unit. Where one lacked another would step in. Brun stopped an attack from Aokiji in its tracks with his flames. While Sam absorbed Kizaru's light and sent it back at him with several more times the force.

While Sam and Brun kept the sides clear. Illian and Tsu'rin kept anyone from getting a shot at ace. And Rue and Rye kept the rear from closing up on them.

They never stopped moving forward Iso made sure of it. She danced and wove through her enemies cutting down any marine that got in her way.

The ground started to shake in a rhythmic thumping making it difficult to keep ones footing. Iso looked up to see one of the giant squad charging toward them.

"Brun take the point," Iso yelled. The rest of the legion automatically adjusted to the change.

Iso ran toward the attacking giant. He swung his massive axe at her. The dragon jumped timing it so that she landed on the weapon. Not wanting to give the giant time to react Iso ran up the handle of the axe and up his arm and toward his face.

She pulled back and punched him in the face withal her strength. The giant fell back unconscious. Iso landed back into position among her legion and they readjusted around her.

xXx

Law was not moping. Though everyone in the crew agreed that he was indeed moping. He was sitting in his office the book he had been trying to study was laying on his desk unopened.

The execution was scheduled to start in just a few hours and Iso was going to be in the middle of it. He didn't know what bothered him more the fact that his dragon was their or that he wasn't there with her.

He snatched the book off his desk and opened it to where his marker was the doctor forced himself to read the words but he wasn't really absorbing them. A knock on the door distracted him from his book.

"Enter," Law ordered.

Penguin stuck his head through the door, "Captain the broadcast is going to start soon are we going?"

The broadcast was airing on every den den mushi wave length available, but it could be watched from a special location set up on Sabaody.

If they went to watch Law would be able to see Iso but he would be far away to do anything.

"Captain," Penguin called, "did you hear me?"

"Yes," Law stood and moved around his desk.

"So we're going then," Penguin moved out of his captain's way.

"No prepare to set sail," Law ordered.

"Um captain, you're not serious are you," Penguin protested.

"Yes now get moving," Law stalked away from his first mate.

XXX

The dragon's progress had stalled. The marines were doing everything in their power to keep them from moving any further and the join up with the white beard pirates.

Iso cut down a marine captain and turned and stopped another from attacking Sam from behind.

"Iso look out," Brun yelled right before the storm dragon was engulfed in a powerful heat. She turned just in time to block the fists of Akainu with her swords.

"Pirate scum, you should know better than to cross the marines," the large man growled at her. Iso was struggling to keep him at bay with her swords. The marine's lava powers were heating up the metal and Iso could see them starting to bend.

The dragon jumped back just as her swords broke. The girl dropped the useless hilts of her old swords, "those were my favorite."

"That doesn't matter scum. You won't need them when you are dead, "the man lunged at Iso and she just barely manage to roll out of the way. The dragon scrambled to her feet and place her hand on the sword hilt that poked over her shoulder. Iso drew a blade that was dark it sucked in all the surrounding light and emitted it through seven points of lights spaced up the blade.

Iso swung the blade and struck the ground in front of her creating a shock wave that covered the entirely of the battlefield. Only the strongest of fighters kept their feet. The blue haired girl stood bringing the blade with her.

"You'll regret forcing me to draw Noctis," Iso growled.

"I never regret anything," Akainu moved into position.

"Iso," Brun yelled from behind her.

"Go protect ace," she called back.

The dragons displeasure at leaving their leader behind showed clearly on their faces, but they did as they were told. And made a break toward the harbor now that it was clear.

"You should have kept your little entourage here. You had better chances of lasting longer," the red marine smirked at her.

"Really tell me marine do you know why your world government leaves my people alone," Iso started to move to her left and the two opponents started to circle each other. Iso continued when the marine didn't answer. "The nine guardians are each capable of taking one of you admirals on their own. Do the math we out power you."

"A pathetic attempt at a bluff," Akainu snarled.

Iso shrugged before charging at the marine. The red dog erected a barrier of lava to block her attack. The dragon easily slashed through the molten stone. Akainu blocked Iso with his arms.

The dragon jumped back after her attack was blocked not wanting to stay within range of the marine's devil fruit powers.

Akainu sent a wave of lava after her and Iso leapt into the air and slammed right back down on the marine. His lava rose up to meet Iso's lightening and the two elements lashed out and clashed together. The forces of the attacks forced the two fighters apart.

Iso landed on her feet sliding back several yards. She hissed in pain it felt like the bottom of her feet were burned. Her opponent looked to be in worse shape than she was. His uniform was in tatters lightening burns spread across his chest. He was watching her with a new wariness.

The dragon smirked, "Seems your starting to understand." His devil fruit didn't protect him against her magic. Iso brought her sword around to attack. Black sparks danced down the blade. She swung it at the marine and a ball of black lightening erupted from the blade, "Engulf!"

The marine tried to get out of the way but the ball of energy changed direction and hit him square on.

With the marine trapped in her attack it was the perfect time to take him out but a familiar voice drew her away.

"AAACCCEEE I'm here to save you," the yell of straw hat Luffy carried over the entire battle field. He was falling from the sky in a marine battleship.

"Luffy what the hell are you doing here!" Ace yelled as the ship hit the ground breaking apart and throwing her passengers free. The fire user broke from the protection of Iso's legion racing toward his brother.

"Damit," Iso swore and ran to intercept the two brothers who were racing toward each other.

Kizaru was faster than all of them. He appeared behind Luffy ready to attack. Straw hat turned to face the admiral but that was about all he could do.

"Luffy! NO!" Ace yelled but he was too far away to do anything.

Light started to emit from the yellow admiral and there was nothing the young pirate could do. The light flashed forcing every one watching to look away. When she could look again Iso expected to see a dead pirate instead Marco the phoenix held Kizaru's wrist with his hand and the rookie firmly safe behind him. The rest of the commanders quickly surrounded them and Kizaru retreated to a safe distance.

Iso reached Ace and forced him down barely missing an attack aimed at him. "What part of stay under cover don't you understand," she growled at him.

"That's my brother," Ace argued as the rest of Iso's legion surrounded them. Iso hauled him up and pushed him toward Illian, "Marco you better protect him!"

The blond pirate looked over at them and Iso met his eyes for just a moment. An understanding was made between them. Iso would protect Ace and the whitebeards would take care of Luffy.

"Iso we need to get out of here," Brun said from where he stood.

"I know," the dragon looked around for a way out. Then much to her surprise Iso found a very familiar yellow submarine. "There!"

"Move it you guys," Brun ordered. The legion moved toward the sub. Iso fell to the back of the group to protect the rear. They met very little resistance on the way to the sub. The area was mostly under pirate control.

Brun jumped onto the deck of the sub to find the captain, bear and newest member Jean Bart waiting for them.

"Get below deck," Law ordered. Brun nodded and went through the hatch dragging Ace with him.

"What are you doing here," Iso asked. She was the last one to jump on board.

"I'll explain later," he said as he looked her over. She was covered in blood and grime. Her armor was in tatters from the many hits it had taken. Iso was also no longer moving with her usual calm and graced. It seemed painful for her to even stand.

"We should get below deck," they were the last ones out there.

An anger filled roar reached them. Law and Iso looked out to find Akainu charged at them. Iso grabbed Law and shoved him through the sub's hatch and closed it behind him.

"No!" Law yelled and slammed into the locked door. He felt the sub spring to life under him as his crew worked to get them out of there.

Law ran to the navigation room, "Get us back to the surface."

"What's wrong captain," Penguin asked.

"Iso's not on the ship," Law told them. The Penguin hatted man paled. Bepo and Jean Bart were already working to reverse the subs direction.

"Stop," Brun ordered, "If Iso stayed behind she has her reasons. If we don't leave now we run the risk of not escaping at all."

Law glared at the red dragon. But he was right if they resurfaced he put his whole crew at risk. Iso was very capable. She had the best odds of finding a way out.

"Penguin get us out of here," Law ordered.

"Y yes captain," the first mate ordered the navigation room to go back to their original heading.

Law turned to Brun, "If anything happens to her I will kill you."

He stormed from the room and headed toward his infirmary.


	16. Chapter 16

Iso intercepted Akainu before he could reach the sub. He slammed his hands down on Iso's sword and she braced the blade with her open hand. The dragon smirked in triumph as she heard the sounds of the sub sinking below the waves.

"You can't' get to him now. You marines failed," Iso growled.

"I will track the criminal down once I am finished with you," the marine snarled.

The red marine backed away from the blue haired girl. It wasn't long before Iso realized that she was surrounded. The pirates had retreated to their ship and were working to get away from marineford. Iso was on her own. She could fly away but would run the risk of being shot by the maries' cannons. That might be a risk she would have to take though.

"It seems I don't have to hold back anymore," Iso smirked.

The sky above them started to rumble and the clouds darkened as the dragon poured her magic into the environment. Lightening flashed around her as Iso threw her hands out wide.

"Lightning Storm!" Iso yelled as electricity fell from the sky and blasted through the remaining marines.

The ground around the dragon shook and she struggled to stand upright. Iso whipped around when she sensed a new presence behind her.

Whitebeard stood above her, "It's time for you to leave young one."

He grabbed the back of her armor and threw her into the sky.

Iso tumbled through the sky head over tail. Any moment she expected to be shot but she never was. It took some effort but Iso managed to correct her flight and stop her momentum through the air. When she looked down marineford wasn't even in view any more.

The blue haired girl shifted into her true form to enable her to fly faster. She aimed her snout back toward the battlefield. The dragon had to at least find out the outcome of the conflict. Even whitebeard couldn't take on the entirety of the marines and survive. Though Iso suspected that was not his intentions.

A massive ship came into view. It was being pursued by several marine ships, Iso realized that it was the whitebeard's flagship. Just as the dragon flew by a blue flaming phoenix erupted from the ship on the other side. Iso circled behind the Moby Dick and to the closest marine ship with a blast of lightening from her mouth. The next ship she grabbed the top of the mast and drug the ship sideways until it capsized. The last ship was blasted to pieces by a blast of lightening and blue flames.

The phoenix came to a stop in front of Iso and shifted into the form of first division commander Marco.

"You're the girl who rescued ace, yoi," he stated rather then asked.

In answer Iso shifted to her smaller form.

"Why aren't you with ace?"

"I had to ensure that they were able to escape. So I stayed behind," she explained.

"Pops had the same idea, yoi. Though I don't think he was able to escape like you," Marco said.

"That was only thanks to your pops," Iso told him.

"I have to go back, yoi," Marco looked in the direction of the marine base. He had to see what had happened to his pops.

"I'll go with you," with that said they shifted to their other forms and flew off.

XXX

They arrived back at the former battlefield to find a rather odd standoff going on between two different pirate crews and the marines. The pirate empire red haired shanks stood in front of the body of whitebeard. While a fat lump of a pirate Iso didn't know was gloating about finally killing the old legend. The marines stood back watching warily. They couldn't afford another conflict with such a strong pirate crew.

"No!" Marco dropped out of the sky to land by his captain. He knelt by the body of his father tears streaming down his face.

Iso landed next to him choosing to remain in her true form.

Shanks turned to face them, "A cease fire has been called, Marco you should get out of here."

"I will take care of him," Iso's voice rumbled out.

"It's been a long time Iso," shanks nodded at her.

"We'll follow after a moment."

Iso nodded at him before snaking her snout around and grabbed Marco by the back of his jacket. The blond didn't put up a fight as the dragon placed him on her back and then with the upmost care Iso picked the body of one of the world's most legendary men in her front claws.

She took to the sky so she could return the father back to his children.

XXX

The whitebeard pirates gathered around Iso as she landed on the prow of their ship. Many of them were already openly crying as the dragon laid the body of their pops onto the deck.

Vista helped Marco from Iso's back. The two men held onto each other for support and comfort. Iso changed back into her smaller form. She melted into the background to give the grieving pirates their space.

XXX

Iso sat against the railing of the ship in the quietest area that she could find. Her eyes were closed and for all appearances was asleep. Her whole body ached and she just wanted to sit there and not move for a while.

The sound of whispered footsteps approaching her roused Iso from her daze. Iso opened her eyes to find one of the commanders standing over her. Vista she thought his name was.

"You should go and see the nurses you look like you could use it," he started as way of opening a conversation.

"I think the nurses are a little busy," Iso said without moving from her position.

Vista sat down with a groan, "You should still get looked at," he had never seen someone so covered in blood and grime.

"I will. What I really could use is a shower and a change of clothes," she admitted.

"That can be arranged," vista said turning toward her and paused, "I wanted to thank you for saving ace. I don't think we could have rescued him without you."

"You are welcome," Iso eyed him.

"Though makes me wonder why you did it," Vista said as he stood and offered a hand to Iso.

"I have my reasons," she grabbed his hand and hissed as she stood dozens of sore muscles and injuries making themselves known.

The taller man escorted her to the commander quarters and their private bathroom there.

"You should have some privacy here and I'll see what I can do to find you some clothes.

The blue haired girl waited until the door was closed until she started to slowly strip her armor piece by piece.

Her boots were the worse the burns on the bottom of her feet had scabbed over and fused with the inside of her boots.

A knock on the door startled Iso and made her jump. "Um miss dragon commander Vista sent me to bring you some clothes," a female voice called out.

"Come in," the dragon called. The door was cracked open and a girl in a nurse's outfit slipped in. Iso frowned she had told the commander that the nurses were better used elsewhere.

"I'm Rose one of the nurses," not only was she carrying clothes for Iso but a medical kit as well.

"I don't need a nurse right now," Iso told the girl.

"Not from where I'm standing," Rose said. She pushed Iso down on the bench in the bath room.

"Are all human doctor's this pushy," Iso asked.

"Yes now lay down," rose smirked.

XXX

Iso sat on the railing of the Moby Dick. She was currently being witness to one of the pirating world's greatest legends being put to rest. They were docked at a remote island near the redline. All of the whitebeard pirates who were able stood before the grave.

The mourners slowly started to trickle back onto the Moby Dick until only the commanders remained behind. Iso grabbed the crutches that Rose kept forcing her to use. Not that she went anywhere she spent most of her time with the unconscious Luffy. The young pirate had been severely poisoned in his attempted break out at impel down.

Iso hobbled down to where the commanders stood. She came to a stop next to Marco, "I met your pops once years ago. It was a brief meeting but he left an impression on me."

Iso drew her sword from her back. She held it in front of her and started to chant slowly the blade dissolved and vanished. As the sword disappeared an immense sense of peace spread over the island calming everyone who was still standing on the island.

"What did you just do?" Izou asked once the dragon was done.

"I bade Noctus to protect this island. Edward Newgate shall only know peace," Iso explained.

"Thank you Iso," Vista said as he offered to help her back to the ship.

"Thank you," Marco bow his head toward the dragon, "I think it's time we find the rest of our family."

"How do you suppose we find ace. They could be anywhere by now," Izou asked.

"I can find them," Iso volunteered while reaching into her shirt making many of the males blush. She pulled out a red scale, "This is my second command's it should lead us to them." She places the scale in Marco's open palm and they all noticed it slide across the skin like vivre card.

XXX

Ace struggled to stand from his bed in Trafalgar's infirmary. After the battle he had collapsed in the hall of the sub. He had been stuck in bed ever since.

"Fire Fist-ya what do you think you are doing," Law demanded as he walked into the room.

"Just going for a walk," ace forced a laugh.

"No," Law shoved him back into the bed, "Not only are you severely malnourished and dehydrated from your time in captivity but you have many injuries that were left untreated after your battle with Blackbeard. You need to rest and heal."

"I need to find my crew and find out what is going on," ace countered.

"No," Law said and to reinforce his point he snapped a seastone cuff around his wrist and attached it too the bed rail, "Your crew can manage without you."

"Hey what the hell take this off me," ace yanked on the chain but his already weakened stat was made worse by the seastone.

The infirmary door opened again and the green haired dragon walked in. "Ah captain Trafalgar. I am glad that I found you. I heard from your associate that you have an excellent collection of dragon medical texts. I was hoping to gain your permission to pursue them?"

In the days preceding the war of the best, as it was being dubbed, Law had found that Iso's assessment of the various dragons now aboard his ship to be quiet accurate. Especially the two newest additions. Illian the green dragon was an intellectual and had consulted with Law in the treatment of Ace. Tsu'rin on the other had to be restrained by Brun once he found out that Iso had been sailing with a male. For as long as he had. Apparently the other dragons had kept the over protective male in the dark about the little details.

"Of course they are in my office," they didn't make it two steps out of the infirmary before Rue came running up to them.

"Captain Law, Illian a ship's been spotted on the horizon," he paused for a moment, "It's the whitebeard pirates."

"Hey let me out of here," Ace yelled from inside the infirmary. He had heard what Rue had said.

"Rue stay with the patient. Have your brother notify me if he does anything stupid," Law pointed at the door.

"Aye, Aye captain Law," Rue saluted before running into the infirmary, "hey Ace."

Law didn't stick around to hear the rest of what he said the dark haired pirate was already rushing toward the deck of his ship.

The Moby Dick was little more than a speck on the horizon.

"Are you certain that it is the Whitebeards," Law asked. The ship was still too far away for him to make out any detail.

"Of course it is," Tsu'rin said from where he leaned against the rail, "a dragon isn't limited in their senses like humans are."

Law scowled at the black dragon, "I would suggest you watch your tongue Tsu'rin-ya or you might lose it."

"Is that a threat human," the tall dragon took a step toward Law and the captain readied his weapon to be drawn.

"Tsu'rin watch your attitude. Captain Trafalgar deserves our respect," Brun moved in-between the two males. Law smirked and turned away from the aggressive dragon.

The ship was now close enough that Law could make out the flag flying from the mast of the massive ship. The whitebeard's familiar mark flew proud from the ship.

Two figures rose up from the ship and flew toward them. Iso and Marco the phoenix came into view and came to a hoovering stop over the sub.

Iso was dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top. Bandages covered her feet and most of her legs.

Tsu'rin stepped forward and held up his arms.

"Here Iso I'll help you land."

Law frowned and before Iso could move his room appeared. Iso vanished from the air and reappeared in his arms. The blue haired girl wrapped her arms around laws neck.

All the dragons turned to look at them and Tsu'rin stepped forward as if he was going to pull Iso from Law's arms but Illian held him back by the collar of his shirt.

"Captain Trafalgar," Marco called out, "permission to come abroad, yoi."

Law looked up at him, "Granted." Marco landed in a flourish of fire and feathers not at all intimidated at being on a rival pirate crew's ship, "Where's Ace?"

"In the infirmary. If you'll follow me, I'll take you down there." Law turned and left the deck.

Law looked down at Iso who was being unusually quiet. Her head was resting against his shoulder and her eyes were lidded in exhaustion.

The dark doctor entered into the infirmary with a bang, "Ace-ya I would appreciate it if you did not conspire with Rue to disobey your doctor's orders."

"I'm perfectly fine Trafalgar," Ace scowled at the pirate captain as he set Iso down on one of the open beds.

"If that was the case you would not need the support of Rue," the white dragon smiled at Law sheepishly.

"Ace!" Marco said from the doorway.

"Marco! You're here," Ace's whole face lite up at the sight of his friend.

"Yeah everyone is. But you should be listening to your doctor," Marco started to help ace to lay back in his bed.

Law stopped over to the two pirates. He just wanted to take Iso back to his room to check her over but now he had to deal with his idiot patient.

"Are you experiencing any pain of nausea," Law asked as he effortlessly reattached the IV and various monitors.

"No,"

"Ace be honest," Marco admonished him.

"My ribs hurt and I'm dizzy," fire fist growled.

"That is to be expected. It will go away in few minutes if it doesn't call for Elias of Illian," with that said Law turned away from them. He picked Iso up one again and left the infirmary.

The dragon had her eyes closed and her breathing was light, but Law knew that Iso wasn't quite asleep yet.

Iso," Law called as he let them into his office and passed through to his bedroom

"Hmm," she hummed.

"You can rest after I check your injuries," Law told her.

As he set her down on the bed.

"Alright," Iso opened her eyes and sat on her own.

"when was the last time you slept," Law asked. She was unusually tired even though the battle was several days ago.

"When did I leave the archipelago," she asked.

"That was almost a week ago," Law answered.

"Then almost week ago,"

Law frowned but he hurried his exam up just the same. The burns on her feet were bad but healing well. It would still be painful for her to walk for some time.

After he rewrapped her wounds Law tucked Iso under the covers of his bed before crawling in behind her. He had to admit he hadn't slept much in the last week either.


	17. Chapter 17

It was a few days later when Ace woke up in the morning. He was still in the infirmary but it was a little better. Law had convinced Marco to move his little brother onto the submarine. The white beard pirates had enough injured to take care of so taking one of the most severely injured off their hands was a good thing for all involved. Luffy was in bad shape. He had been very badly poisoned when he had broken into impel down even though Ivankov had used his hormones to stop the poison it had still left lasting damage and to add to that damage was the injuries he had sustained at Marineford.

Ace opened his eyes and the first thing he looked at was his brother. The younger boy still had not woken up since the commanders had taken him from the battle.

"He's fine, I've been watching him," a voice on his other side said.

Ace turned his head to find the blue haired dragon sitting next to his bed. Her still bandaged feet were propped up on the edge of his bed.

"Your um," Ace hesitated he had been told about the leader of the dragons but he couldn't remember what it was.

"Iso," she supplied.

"Right sorry," they sat in silence for a while both lost to their own thoughts, "Why'd you do it?"

"Do what," Iso looked at him with a knowing look.

"You know saving me," the pirate growled at her.

"Ah well I was repaying a debt owed to someone who's been dead a long time," Iso said.

Ace scowled his mind instantly going to his father Gol D. Roger who he absolutely detested.

"Get your mind out of that place," Iso poked him with her toe, "I'm talking about your mother, Rouge. She saved my life once and I never got to repay her."

Ace looked up at Iso a hopeful look on his face, "You knew my mother?"

"I did"

X

Iso grumbled under her breath as she stared out the tall window in front of her. She leaned against the wooded frame as the rain slashed against the glass.

"Iso come away from the window sweetheart," a gentle voice called from behind the young storm dragon.

The blue haired girl turned to regard her mother who lounged on a low couch in front of a merrily burning fire. Isamadalla was a timeless beauty. She possessed a natural poise and grace that had helped her to gain the love and devotion of the citizens of the Shinning cities.

"Yes momma," Iso stepped away from the windows to warm herself in front of the fire.

"What is troubling you my heart," the older dragon asked.

"What makes you think something is bothering me," Iso asked.

"A mother always knows," Isamadalla smiled at her daughter.

Iso opened her mouth but paused to collect her thoughts, "It's just, I should be there, in the city with father. It's not every day another guardian visits especially the black lord."

"Iso you know why he sent us away. It's for our protection. He's just following his instincts."

"But I'm father's heir I should be there?" Iso snapped.

"And you will be, but not today only when you are stronger," the older dragon said.

Iso wanted to say she was strong enough now, but she knew it wouldn't do any good.

"Come her Iso let me hold you," Isamadalla held her arms open for her daughter.

"I'm not a child any more mamma," the blue haired girl said.

"A daughter is never too old to be held by her mother. Now come," she made a waving motion with her hands.

Iso smiled indulgently before climbing into her lap and laying her head upon her mother's shoulder.

"Now isn't that better," Isamadalla wrapped her arms around Iso. She started to sing softly reciting an ancient lullaby to her daughter. Iso closed her eyes and started to drift off to sleep.

Iso's eyes snapped open. Quite some time had passed she could tell since the fire was almost out. She pulled out of her mother's arms slightly trying to figure out why exactly she had woken up.

There! A very slight scrapping noise from outside the room. They were supposed to be alone in the house so there shouldn't be anyone moving around outside of the room. Iso turned to wake her mother placing a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. Iso raised a finger to her lips shushing her mother.

"There's intruders in the house," she whispered, Iso motioned Isamadalla over to a corner. She grabbed her sword from the table and took up a defensive position.

The door started to edge open. Iso kicked the door so it bounced off the intruder and swung back open. The blue haired girl slashed down with her blade killing the man. Another attacker charged and Iso barely had time to bring her sword up to block. Their swords locked together. They struggled as they backed into the room. Iso's attacker managed to hit her blade away and with a kick knocked the girl to the ground. The dragon tried to defend herself with her lightening but it did no good.

Isamadalla screamed in horror as. The man's blade pierced her daughter's chest.

"No!" the mother dragon screamed as her daughter bled out on the floor. She released a blast of magic so powerful it over rode whatever it was that had nullified Iso's magic. Their attacker was incinerated where he stood. The panicking mother ran to her daughter's side. She gently gathered Iso into her arms tears falling freely from her eyes.

"No, no, no my beautiful daughter. Don't die please don't die," it was no use Iso's last breath shuddered out of her. As she went still Isamadalla started to sing.

She sang the same lullaby that she sung earlier in the evening only now it was tainted with desperation.

Her magic welled up around her it spun and twisted along with melody of the song she sung. The magic settled back on the two dragons. The dead dragon and her mother started to glow.

As Isamadalla's song came to a close Iso's lung's rose with new breath. The wound in her chest closed rapidly.

The mother's daughter would live, but such a spell came with consequences. That consequence was a life for a life, in exchange for her daughter not leaving this world Isamadalla would move on her place.

Iso opened her eyes to find her mother leaning over her, but something was wrong. She could see right through her.

"Mamma?"

"Don't worry my heart it's a mother's duty to protect her child," Isamadalla smiled.

"What's happening," Iso sat up and holding onto her mother.

"I'm leaving you, but I won't be far," she said as she became even fainter to the eye.

"But I don't want you to go," Iso cried.

"I'll always be with you my heart. But now you need to run, more men are coming," with that said Isamadalla faded from sight and Iso was left holding air.

Iso looked down at her arms as if that could bring her mother back, but it was useless she was alone now. That wouldn't last long she had to get out of there.

She grabbed her sword and sheathed it at her side. Iso took one last look around before throwing herself through the window and into the storm outside.

X

Iso didn't know how long she flew. Her wing joints were stiff and painful. She knew that she should stop and yet island after island passed by below her and she never made a move to stop.

Her mind was a haze she didn't even know why she flew but only that she had to keep going.

A beautiful young woman walked down the beach of her home island. Her long strawberry blond hair cascaded down her back and freckles stood out starkly on her pale cheeks.

She was exploring the beach after the most recent storm. She was looking for anything that might be salvageable. Up ahead she noticed a pile of wood that looked like it might have once been a part of the hull of a ship. That was good she could always use more wood on her small farm.

She moved up to the pile of wood and shifted it around intending to drag it away from the tide. She would come back later with a wagon to bring it home. She shifted aside the last chunk of wood and pulled back with a gasp. A blue haired girl was laying half buried in the sand. The light haired woman shoved the wood away and knelt by the girl's side. With tentative hands she reached toward her neck checking for a pulse. She sighed with relief finding a faint pulse. The woman grabbed the girl by the armpits and dragged her away from the water line.

X

The woman managed to get the girl she found on the beach back to her home. The girl was feverish and kept muttering in her sleep.

"You poor thing," the woman said as she changed the damp cloth on the girl's forehead. She went back to crushing up herb's in a mortar that she grew special on her farm. She mixed the herbs into a mug of warm water. The woman sat the girl up and held the cup to her lips gently encouraging her to drink the medicine.

The woman was dozing in a chair next to the bed of her patient. It had been several days since she had brought her patient into her home. Her fever had broken a few hours ago now it was just a waiting game for her to wake up.

A soft groan drew the attention of the woman her patient was waking up. The girl's eyes fluttered open and she just laid there. The woman waited for a reaction from the girl. The blue haired girl looked around the small bedroom soon finding the woman sitting next to her. The girl narrowed her eyes at her before attempting to sit up.

"Careful," the woman helped the girl to sit up against the head board.

"Wha" she tried to asked but the girl started to cough from how dry her throat was. The woman grabbed a glass of water from the nearby table and held it to the girl's lips.

"Drink first, then talk," she ordered. The girl held the cup to steady it. She drained that cup and half of a second before she was sated.

"Where am I," the girl asked at long last.

"You're in my home, I'm Rouge by the way,"

"Iso,"

"Well Iso you should get more rest, you're still recovering," Rouge helped her to lay back down. Iso was soon drifting off to a more restful sleep. The simple act of sitting up had tired her out. Rouge tucked the blankets around her charge and left the room to get some rest for herself.

X

A few day's latter Iso was sitting in Rouge's antique rocking chair outside taking in the warm sea air when the human who had rescued her came out on the porch from the kitchen.

"Iso how are you feeling today?"

"Better, thanks to you," Iso smiled at her but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"I have to go into town to run some errands. Will you be fine here on your own?" Rouge asked she hated to leave the girl here on her own she was just barely recovered, but they needed food and Rouge needed to sell her herbs before they went bad.

"I'll be fine Rouge go take care of what you need to," the blue haired girl said.

"Alright I'll try to be quick."

Rouge made her way through the small island market as quick as she could. She had sold her goods already and now just needed to get some food for the next week.

"Rouge-babe haven't seen ya around in a while," a voice behind her interrupted her shopping.

"Um hello Reynault. How have you been?" she greeted the man even though she didn't really want to talk to him. Reynault was a local small time gangster and he had always had an odd obsession with her.

The shady man lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. Rouge pulled her had away and tried to be discreet about whipping it off.

"Why don't you and I go get something to eat babe?" he asked her.

"Sorry Reynault but I have to get home," rouge protested.

"If you're worried about your shopping my boys'll take care of it,"

"It's not that. I have a quest that I need to get back to," Rouge explained.

Reynault's pleasant expression changed into a hard look, "What kinda guest?"

"A ship wreck victim, I've been nursing them back to health. So if you'll excuse me I have to get home," how Rouge got away she wasn't quite sure but she made her way home without any trouble.

 **A/N oh wow a chapter. Sorry it took so long guys a lot has happened in my life lately. I got in an accident and broke my back. Don't worry I'm not paralyzed but the frustrating part is I still can't move my legs because the muscles pulls on my break and it hurts like a bitch I'll be stuck in a wheel chair for a few months so I can't ride my horses like I used to for a while. I quit my shit job though and I get to start a new one with people I know and love so that is a plus. So maybe I can start to feel like myself again.**


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